THE winner came late – very late – but it was hugely welcome and hugely deserved for Birmingham Ciy.

With the final whistle approaching, Scott Dann showed nerves of steel to usher in Roger Johnson’s header down and cap a quite pulsating encounter in Blues’ favour.

Blues should have been out of sight before Blackpool’s stirring second-half comeback.

Aleksandr Hleb had given them a 24th minute lead and the diamond formation and commitment to be bold had Blues set fair.

DJ Campbell equalised and Ben Foster had to be at his best as Blues went from being in control to hanging on.

They might have rued a catalogue of missed opportunities – Cameron Jerome went through and hit the post three minutes before Campbell struck.

But, with both teams dead on their feet after giving so much to a see-saw match, Blues mounted one last attack, and Dann netted in the 89th minute.

Jean Beausejour hooked a cross to the far post, Johnson towered high and headed the ball down and although other Blues players were in an offside position, central defender Dann was not and he calmly let the ball bobble onto his knee before sticking it past Richard Kingson.

Not only did the result ease relegation concerns but it was Blues first road victory since March, and first at Bloomfield Road since 1960.

It was reward for the roll of the dice by Alex McLeish and the way in which his players performed with such intent and gusto.

Matt Derbyshire was handed his first Premier League starting in a diamond formation and eagerly bounded about like a bunny, helping to liberate Jerome.

With Hleb flitting about in behind, Blues’ football was fluid and genuinely threatening.

Blues announced their intentions just 80 seconds in when a clever interchange between Hleb and Liam Ridgewell saw the ball rolled across the face of the six-yard box, but Derbyshire, sliding in, couldn’t quite divert it on target.

In the sixth minute Hleb then released Derbsyhire on the left of the area and he passed up a shooting opportunity to square for Jerome.

Unfortunately, the ball went slightly behind Jerome and he got his feet in a tangle and didn’t get any connection.

Blues took the lead when Stephen Crainey inexplicably passed the ball straight to Hleb, who was loitering on the right-hand side of the area. After ambling and shuffling towards goal in that dribbling style of his, he scooped the ball into the back of the net off Kingson’s legs as he went to ground in from of him.