Five-star Birmingham keep on climbing

A Cameron Jerome double gave Birmingham a 2-1 win over Blackburn as Alec McLeish’s side claimed a fifth consecutive win in the Premier League for the first time in the club’s history on Tuesday.

Ryan Nelsen ensured a nervy finish for Birmingham but McLeish’s men held out for three points that lifted them to sixth place in the table.

Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce restored Jason Roberts and Nikola Kalinic to his side at the expense of fellow strikers Franco Di Santo and Benni McCarthy, while El-Hadji Diouf and Morten Gamst Pedersen replaced the injured Vince Grella and David Hoilett.

McLeish kept faith with the side that had beaten West Ham at the weekend, which meant former Scotland captain Barry Ferguson lining up against the club where he suffered a serious knee injury during a previous spell in the English top flight.

It was another Scot, James McFadden, however who was at the origin of Birmingham’s opener. The winger played a short corner to Sebastian Larsson whose cross was headed goalwards by Christian Benitez before Jerome scrambled it over the line.

Birmingham immediately looked significantly more confident and Lee Bowyer only just failed to get on the end of a through ball from Benitez after good build-up work.

Benitez was denied a goal of his own by a marginal offside decision and Blackburn were weakened by the loss of Australia’s Brett Emerton to injury shortly afterwards.

Kalinic might have equalised three minutes before the interval after Birmingham failed to deal with a hopeful punt in the box but he mis-kicked at close range.

Blackburn were made to pay for that missed opportunity three minutes into the seocnd half, when Jerome doubled their lead.

Larsson’s overhead pass sent Carr on an overlap and he picked out Jerome with a precise cutback, the striker driving a low shot beyond Paul Robinson in the Blackburn goal.

It was the 50th league goal of Jerome’s career and his celebrations were sufficiently jubilant to earn him a yellow card.

Allardyce reacted by replacing Diouf with Junior Hoilett after 53 minutes and Blackburn gained a lifeline with just over 20 minutes left when Pascal Chimbonda got on the end of Pedersen’s inswinging free-kick.

The defender forced Joe Hart into a fine save but Nelsen was on hand to bundle the ball home.

Blackburn huffed and puffed but it was the home side who came closest to adding to their score in the closing stages, Benitez hitting the bar from close range after Robinson had parried a Jerome shot.