Heskey on target for City

Birmingham 1 Manchester City 0

Emile Heskey scored his first goal for Birmingham to earn his side their first victory of the season against a below-par Manchester City at rain-swept St Andrews.

Heskey showed the power in the air that persuaded Blues manager Steve Bruce to splash out £6.25million to Liverpool in the summer.

It leaves Kevin Keegan’s side still looking for their opening win of the campaign and he will not have been impressed with their overall performance.

Birmingham did not show the same fluency as against Chelsea at the weekend but they were worthy victors and had the chances to have won by a bigger margin.

It was, in fact, their first win in 11 games since late March after a fade-out in the final quarter of last season.

But there are clear signs that Bruce has assembled a squad boasting the kind of quality seldom seen in the past at a club which has lived in the shadows of Aston Villa.

Gone are the days of scrapping out a victory – although the work ethic is still paramount to Bruce – and Birmingham now boast a host of potential match-winners.

Manchester City will be disappointed with their performance and the expectation level of their fans will heap pressure on Keegan unless results improve.

It might have been different had Nicolas Anelka not wasted a golden opportunity to open the scoring for the visitors after just two minutes.

England’s new cap Shaun Wright-Phillips made a surging run down the right past the challenge of Birmingham left-back Stan Lazaridis and cut an ideal ball back into the path of Anelka.

But from six yards out the Frenchman completely miskicked and the low follow-up effort from Robbie Fowler was comfortably dealt with by keeper Maik Taylor.

Birmingham retaliated and left-sided midfielder Julian Gray burst into the penalty area only for England keeper David James to save at the feet of the former Crystal Palace player.

But after eight minutes St Andrews erupted when Heskey hit the target for the first time since, ironically, scoring for Liverpool on the same ground during a 3-0 win in May.

Lazaridis provided a typically telling left-wing cross and Heskey held off the challenge of Sylvain Distin to send an unstoppable header past James.

Birmingham looked the better side and skipper Kenny Cunningham, back after missing the opening two games through suspension, was relieved to see a headed clearance from a Wright-Phillips cross rebound off Matthew Upson back into the arms of Taylor.

The home side were still the more threatening and Heskey sent a cushion header past the post from a Jesper Gronkjaer centre.

Manchester City defender Danny Mills, playing as a makeshift centre-back in place of the suspended Richard Dunne, became the first player to be yellow-carded after half an hour for a challenge on Mikael Forssell.

Fowler should have put Manchester City level after 31 minutes when he found himself unmarked at the far post but he sent his header wide from Sun Jihai’s cross.

Birmingham began to build up the momentum again and Gray stabbed a shot across goal from a deep Gronkjaer centre after finding space on the far side of the area.

Anelka was stopped in his tracks by a fine challenge from Cunningham as he was lining up a shot some 12 yards out.

But the lively Gray would have been disappointed not to hit the target with a header after getting on the end of a Mario Melchiot cross following incisive play by Muzzy Izzet.

An inswinging Izzet free-kick caused early problems after the interval for Manchester City with Forssell’s header flying just over the bar.

Keegan would have demanded a positive response from his side after their first-half display and it needed a fine challenge from Gronkjaer back in his own penalty area to deny Anelka at the expense of a corner.

Bruce made his first substitution after 53 minutes with Stern John replacing Heskey, who had presumably picked up some kind of knock.

Then Lazaridis was forced out of the action with what looked like a hamstring injury with Stephen Clemence entering the action.

Birmingham still looked more likely to grab the next goal and Forssell failed to make proper contact with a centre from Gronkjaer which flew back across goal.

John should have made no mistake after 69 minutes when he raced clear of the Manchester City defence but he failed to connect properly with his shot and James was able to save to his left.

Izzet became the first home player to be booked a minute later for a challenge on Paul Bosvelt but Birmingham held on comfortably.