Portsmouth 1 - 2 Birmingham

Jerome brace kills off Pompey

Updated: March 10, 2010, 8:56 AM BST

Birmingham gained revenge for their weekend FA Cup exit against Portsmouth after sending the Premier League's bottom club closer to relegation with a 2-1 triumph at Fratton Park.

• Grant wants quick decision from league

Despite going down 2-0 on the South Coast last Saturday, two goals from Cameron Jerome gave them the three points.

Substitute Kanu pulled one back in the dying minutes but, with Pompey already five points from safety and facing a likely nine-point deduction, this proved of little consolation in their uphill battle for survival.

Portsmouth went into the game with a very attack-minded side, as manager Avram Grant fielded Frederic Piquionne, Aruna Dindane and Danny Webber from the off.

Dindane's pace and movement caused the Blues a few problems on the left early on, while Jamie O'Hara thrived in his free role in midfield.

The Tottenham loanee cut inside from the right beautifully after seven minutes, but his low shot from the edge of the box was comfortably saved by Joe Hart.

Despite looking settled in the opening stages, Pompey's defence began to look nervy and this allowed Jerome to fire the visitors ahead after 16 minutes.

He latched on to Christian Benitez's pass through the home rearguard before slotting the ball coolly to David James' right.

Birmingham had a penalty appeal rightly turned down three minutes later, when Benitez fell under pressure from Hermann Hreidarsson. Referee Mike Jones booked the Blues striker for diving.

Alex McLeish's side nearly doubled their advantage after 26 minutes. Benitez was found by Michel's ball forward and squared for Craig Gardner, whose shot whistled just wide of the target.

Pompey looked far from the assured side which knocked Birmingham out of the FA Cup and Benitez nearly made it two six minutes before the break.

A through ball from Jerome helped the Ecuadorian beat the Pompey offside trap. He rounded James, but his run was halted by a stunning, last-ditch tackle from Hreidarsson.

Birmingham put daylight between themselves and Pompey three minutes later, though, when Benitez back-heeled the ball to Jerome who shot under the diving James.

With things clearly not working for Pompey, Grant brought on Quincy Owusu-Abeyie and Angelos Basinas for the ineffective Marc Wilson and Danny at the interval.

Quincy proved much better at holding up the ball as his pace, power and skill helped Pompey take control of possession at the start of the half.

Piquionne had a golden opportunity to get the home side back into the match just before the hour mark, but failed to connect with a Nadir Belhadj cross from the left.

With Pompey still struggling to find the breakthrough, Grant made another attacking move as Kanu was brought on for Michael Brown.

Scott Dann had a half chance to make it three for Birmingham after 71 minutes, but his strike from Keith Fahey's corner looped high over the bar.

Substitute James McFadden nearly made the points safe after 81 minutes when he turned Pompey defender Tal Ben-Haim, but James was equal to his low effort.

Dindane came agonisingly close to pulling one back when he had a stunning attempt from the left side of the box tipped over by Hart.

But Kanu made no mistake and headed home O'Hara's cross from the right after 90 minutes to set up a nervy finale for the visitors.

But defeat sent a step closer to the Championship.

Grant wants quick decision from league

After the match Portsmouth boss Avram Grant has called on the Premier League to make a quick decision on his side's possible nine-point deduction.

Administrator Andrew Andronikou has pledged to fight the rule, which has never been tested as no top flight club has ever suffered this fate. But Grant admits his team would like to know for definite how many points they will have to claw back if they are to avoid relegation.

He said: "I still believe that this needs to be decided on the pitch and we'll see how we get on. We can still do it, but we need to know for sure what will happen. We can't just keep reading in the papers every day that we are nine points down.

"Of course it affects the players, but when they come to the pitch, they are trying everything they can do to win the games."

While Pompey have been at the bottom of the table and favourites for the drop virtually all season, Grant hopes his side's fall into the Championship will not be settled by a decision in the Premier League boardroom.

He added: "For me, there is only one decision. I always respect the rules and we need to respect the rules. But I've said it a hundred times and I'll say it again, football decisions should be settled on the pitch.

"It's not good for the Premier League that a team could be relegated because of a decision that was made off the pitch. This is especially because the victims will be the people who didn't do anything wrong here like the fans and the players."

Meanwhile, Birmingham boss Alex McLeish believes his side lacks the firepower needed to secure European football for next season. Blues' victory over Pompey lifts them up to eighth in the standings, with sixth or seventh spot likely to earn them a Europa League berth.

Despite an impressive display up front from Jerome and Christian Benitez, who made both his partner's goals, McLeish is not convinced his men will find the goals needed to secure seventh.

Asked whether it was a realistic target, the Scot said: "I don't think so - I don't think it's realistic. To get places in Europe, you need a striker scoring 15, 16 goals.

"We'll always be under pressure to get that spot because our strikers won't, unless they go on an unbelievable scoring burst.

"You'll perennially see that the teams who get there have a striker who is up 16 or 17 goals and another one not too far behind."

McLeish's men are comfortably the lowest scorers in the top half of the Premier League, having netted 28 times this term.

Jerome has scored seven while Benitez has just three, but the Birmingham boss admits his strikers may have been distracted by their defensive duties.

He said: "We've been a team which has defended well from the front this season. Perhaps we have asked more from our strikers from a defensive point of view than other clubs. That's possibly why our strikers have not scored more goals."