Swansea City 2 - 3 Birmingham

Swansea 2-3 Birmingham: Phillips hits brace

Updated: November 21, 2008, 9:59 PM UK

Kevin Phillips' second-half brace earned Birmingham a 3-2 victory in their Coca-Cola Championship match with Swansea at the Liberty Stadium.

Phillips, a second-half substitute, rifled in a 20-yard screamer to seal the win which sees Blues move to within three points of Wolves at the top of the table.

Swansea had gone in ahead at the break thanks to a Jordi Gomez strike and an own goal from Radhi Jaidi while Marcus Bent scored the visitors' first.

Birmingham manager Alex McLeish made two changes to the side that beat Charlton last weekend with Mehdi Nafti replacing Phillips and Quincy Owusu-Abeyie coming in for the suspended Nigel Quashie.

Swansea manager Roberto Martinez picked Gorka Pintado ahead of Jason Scotland, who dropped to the bench after playing for Trinidad and Tobago in midweek.

McLeish's side got off to the worst possible start when they went behind after two minutes.

Federico Bessone surged down the left before crossing to Gomez who stabbed the ball past goalkeeper Maik Taylor from close range for his fifth league goal of the season.

Taylor then had the woodwork to thank for keeping Pintado out after the Spaniard's header hit a post after 23 minutes.

The Swans' efforts suffered a blow after 36 minutes when star midfielder Ferrie Bodde had to be carried off with an injury.

Birmingham then hit back through Bent with a close-range header from Nicky Hunt's cross with three minutes of the first half remaining.

But the hosts regained the lead in injury-time when Jaidi deflected an Angel Rangel cross into his own goal.

Swansea started the second period well and nearly increased their lead after 56 minutes but Mark Gower's 18-yard shot was blocked by Liam Ridgewell in the box.

Bent then sent a free-kick into the Swansea box where Sebastian Larsson headed straight at Dimitrios Konstantopoulos.

McLeish then brought on Phillips as he looked to give his side a more attacking edge and the striker made an immediate impact by levelling the scores after 74 minutes.

James McFadden, who played for Scotland against Argentina barely 48 hours ago, broke down the left and delivered a pin-point cross into the box where Phillips nodded home to pick up his seventh of the season.

Phillips' eighth of the campaign came five minutes later when he picked up a Bent pass to hammer home from 20 yards.

Martinez called on Scotland as Swansea piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser.

The Trinidad and Tobago striker could not repeat the impression Phillips had made for Birmingham though, and City closed the game out to secure the vital win.