Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 - 1 Birmingham

Bowyer the hero again for Blues

Updated: November 29, 2009, 8:19 AM UK

Lee Bowyer was Birmingham's match-winner for the second game in succession as his second-minute goal settled the derby clash with Wolves at Molineux.

• McLeish praise for Bowyer

The former England midfielder, who had netted the only goal in the home clash with Fulham, lifted Alex McLeish's side into 11th spot in the Premier League with his fifth goal of the campaign.

Victory also extended City's unbeaten league run to five matches, from which they have gathered 11 points - their best run without a defeat under McLeish who was celebrating two years in charge at St Andrew's.

But defeat kept second from bottom Wolves four points adrift of the safety zone and they have now gone eight league games without a victory.

Blues were the dominant force in the opening 45 minutes with Bowyer again impressing in the centre of the park as his side posed the bigger threat and showed more creativity.

Wolves enjoyed more possession after the interval but seldom looked like breaching the visitors' rearguard with Roger Johnson and Scott Dann producing their usual solid performances at the heart of defence.

Birmingham began on the offensive, knocking the ball around in confident fashion, and after two minutes they went ahead through Bowyer.

Christian Benitez and James McFadden linked up well down the right flank with some neat one-touch football before the ball was worked back to Bowyer on the edge of the box.

He spotted recalled goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann off his line and his chip floated over the head of the former Reading player into the roof of the net.

David Edwards had the chance to level matters after 10 minutes when he got on the end of a cross from Matt Jarvis but he glanced his header past the post.

Back came Birmingham and Bowyer tried his luck from 20 yards out but Hahnemann was able to save comfortably.

Sebastian Larsson found space on the right edge of the Wolves box after a mistake by Richard Stearman but Hahnemann went down to his right to hold onto his shot.

Birmingham were now back in the ascendancy and Cameron Jerome failed to make full contact with a 20-yard shot which did not extend Hahnemann after he had linked up well with the lively Benitez when in plenty of space.

Mick McCarthy decided he had to make a change and brought on Michael Kightly for Greg Halford after 32 minutes with Richard Stearman and Michael Mancienne swapping flanks in the full-back roles.

Blues had strong appeals for a penalty rejected when Jarvis appeared to bring down Dann close to the by-line.

Then Hahnemann pulled off a fine save to turn over a piledriver at full stretch from Bowyer which took a wicked deflection.

McCarthy made another change for the start of the second half with Mancienne replaced by Stephen Ward.

Wolves began promisingly and Kevin Doyle curled a 20-yard drive only a couple of feet wide after Sylvan Ebanks-Blake had set up the opportunity.

Christophe Berra became the first player to be yellow carded after 57 minutes for holding back Jerome just inside the Wolves half.

Kightly needed treatment to his left ankle off the pitch after a clash with Barry Ferguson and, although he tried to carry on, he had to limp off and was replaced by Nenad Milijas.

Larsson drilled a low shot across the face of goal in a rare Birmingham attack and Hahnemann was alert in racing out of his box to fly-hack clear as Jerome threatened to seize onto a long Larsson pass.

Birmingham almost caught Wolves napping on the counter-attack with a 4-3 overlap in their favour but McFadden's shot was deflected wide from Jerome's pass.

Joe Hart made his first meaningful save after 74 minutes with a reflex save to keep out Jarvis' rising shot as City held on with relative ease.

McLeish praise for Bowyer

Birmingham manager Alex McLeish believes Lee Bowyer is confounding his critics after he was again the goal hero in the victory over Wolves at Molineux. McLeish said: "When Lee came here other people had doubts about him. But I had no such doubts. I did some research and tried to ensure we were bringing someone in who's the right type and has still got the legs for Premier League football.

"When a player gets older, you fear the legs may go but Lee has shown that it's not the case with him. He is confounding his critics, helping us to promotion last season and his return of five goals is fantastic, like Bowyer of old. He's a mature player and along with Barry Ferguson patrolled and controlled the mid-field superbly, especially in the first half.''

McLeish was celebrating the second anniversary of him taking charge at Birmingham and his side have taken 11 points from the last 15.

He said: "I thought it was a terrific performance all round. We were awesome from start to finish. We worked hard, passed the ball well, showed great composure and stout defending - all the ingredients you want from your team.''

In contrast, Wolves remain four points adrift of safety after extending their sequence without a victory to eight matches.

Manager McCarthy said: "I was not expecting us to play as poorly as we did in the first half. It was a hugely disappointing experience and we did not compete like we normally do. You expect to be beaten by Chelsea and Arsenal, as we have been in the last two games, but we expected to beat Birmingham.

"They deserved it, they were better than us on the day but we were 1-0 down before we had made a tackle and then it is always difficult. I can't blame the (4-0) defeat against Chelsea for what happened today. We were at home to Birmingham and didn't get the performance we wanted.''