Carling Cup: West Ham 2 Birmingham 1

A blunder from Birmingham goalkeeper Ben Foster gave 10-man West Ham a 2-1 win in the first leg of their Carling Cup semi-final on Tuesday.

West Ham had taken a first-half lead at Upton Park when Mark Noble found the back of the net, but Liam Ridgewell’s reply followed by a straight red card to Victor Obinna turned the tide in Birmingham’s favour with just over half an hour remaining.

But West Ham struck against the run of play as Foster failed to deal with Carlton Cole’s tame shot, handing Avram Grant’s side a valuable lead heading into the second leg at St Andrews in a fortnight.

West Ham dominated the opening exchanges with Noble and Scott Parker combining beautifully in midfield.

Freddie Sears volleyed wide before Foster was called in to make a point blank save after Seb Larsson’s clearance rebounded off defender Matthew Upson.

But there was nothing Foster could do to stop Noble opening the scoring in the 13th minute, the midfielder slamming home a powerful volley inside the goalkeeper’s near post after Jonathan Spector’s attempted shot fell advantageously in his path.

Foster made a couple of clutch saves in the remainder of the half, first from Spector then Obinna, to keep Birmingham in the match heading into the break.

Whatever Alex McLeish said to his team at half-time worked as the Blues looked a different side in the second period.

Cameron Jerome had his header cleared off the line by the West Ham defence early in the half, but Ridgewell went one better on 56 minutes after he shook off the defence and powered the ball past West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green.

Things went from bad to worse for the hosts two minutes later when Obinna was sent off for lashing out at Larsson behind play.

It seemed like only a matter of time before Birmingham came up with a winner, but instead it was substitute Cole at the other end who got the job done for the Hammers, slotting the ball into Foster’s path, only for the custodian to clumsily let it slip underneath him.