Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Birmingham City: Lee Bowyer Belter Gives Birmingham Deserved Victory

A stunning third minute goal from Lee Bowyer was enough to give Birmingham City a well deserved 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.

With these two sides aiming to avoid the bottom three this season, both Mick McCarthy and Alex McLeish knew that a win in the Midlands derby would be crucial to their hopes of surviving in the Premier League.

However, the visitors appeared more interested in winning, dominating the first half and taking the lead after just three minutes.

Christian Benitez was the creator, causing the home defence problems inside the area, the ball was only cleared as far as Lee Bowyer, who curled a stunning shot into the top left hand corner, leaving Marcus Hahnemann motionless and the Blues fans delirious.

That early goal from the visitors woke up the home side, and they should have equalised when Matt Jarvis whipped in a cross for David Edwards to meet, but the Welsh midfielder headed horribly wide from just six yards.

Wolves were controlling possession but with little effect and it was Birmingham who looked more likely to grab the second goal of the game.

City captain Liam Ridgewell sent a cross into the box which fell to Sebastian Larsson whose shot was well saved by Hahnemann.

Hahnemann, in for Wayne Hennessey had to be alert again to prevent an own goal from Karl Henry. In an attempt to clear Cameron Jerome’s cross-cum-shot, Henry nearly diverted the ball past his own 'keeper, but fortunately the ball flew straight at a grateful Hahnemann.

Birmingham’s dominance spurred Wolves manager Mick McCarthy into a tactical change on the half hour. Attacking midfielder Michael Kightly was brought on for Greg Halford, in an attempt to give the home side more natural width to trouble the visitors.

Yet McCarthy was lucky that his side did not concede again after Birmingham were denied what seemed to be a clear penalty. With Jarvis back defending, the winger lost control of the ball and in trying to win it back he seemed to impede Scott Dann. However referee Mark Clattenburg saw nothing in the incident and waved play on.

Next up was Bowyer who could have grabbed his second for the Blues when, from a corner, he once again tried his luck from the edge of the box. This time Hahnemann got the better of the Blues man, making a fantastic save after the ball was deflected through the crowd of bodies.

Despite Kightly’s introduction Wolves continued to look like a side out of their depth in the Premier League for the remainder of the first half and to add insult to injury as half-time whistle blew the home fans let the players know their frustrations by booing the players off the pitch.

Manager McCarthy made his second change of the match at the break, taking off Chelsea loanee Michael Mancienne, and replacing him with Stephen Ward.

And whatever McCarthy said in his half-time team talk, nearly went rewarded when Kevin Doyle showed the new intent of the home side by unleashing a shot from all of 25 yards which went inches wide of Joe Hart's post.

Wolves, much like the beginning of the first half, were controlling possession, but were struggling to find a way through Birmingham's rear guard, which lived up to their billing as one of the best defences in the division, having conceded only 14 goals prior to this match.

As the home side pressed, Birmingham always looked threatening on the break, and Christophe Berra was awarded the first yellow card of the game when he pulled back Jerome after being caught in possession by the Blues frontman.

To add to the home side's problems injury-plagued midfielder Kightly, who had come on as a substitute in the first half, limped off with a foot injury, being replaced by Nenad Milijas.

Birmingham then had the chance to double their lead again when they found themselves with four against three on the counter attack. Jerome found James McFadden, who drilled the ball across the goal only for defender Stephen Ward to divert his shot wide of the post.

With 15 minutes to go, Joe Hart was finally forced into his first real save of the match. After he failed to clear a corner, Jarvis reacted the quickest, but Hart recovered superbly to get a strong left hand to the shot and divert it out for a corner.

McLeish was now protecting the lead that his side had. With five minutes remaining he switched his side to 4-5-1, replacing Christian Benitez with Irish midfielder Keith Fahey.

With four minutes added on by the referee, Wolves continued to press for an equaliser, but despite Jerome being booked for a rash tackle and Christian Berra heading over, Birmingham held on for a well deserved three points.

McLeish will be delighted with his team's display and they move up three places to eighth whilst Wolves remain second from bottom, four points from safety, and if they continue to play like this, look certain for a quick return to the Championship.

Josh Kerslake, Goal.com UK