Premier League: Wolves 1 Birmingham 0

A goal by Stephen Hunt in first-half injury time proved to be the difference in this Midlands showdown.

Injury-hit Wolves easily contained a disjointed Birmingham that had goalkeeper Ben Foster to thank for minimising their margin of defeat.

With only goal difference keeping them off the bottom of the table, Wolves started with plenty of desire which forced Roger Johnson in to a bookable foul after a minute as the Blues defender brought down the returning David Edwards.

The Wolves midfielder then forced a brilliant diving save from Foster as he looked set to head home Stephen Ward’s ninth- minute cross.

Edwards then turned provider but again the alert Foster displayed superb reflexes to block Hunt from five ards out.

The England international ‘keeper was then called in to action with a routine stop from Sylvan Ebanks-Blake’s smart turn on the edge of the area followed by a point blank save to deny the same player.

The Blues had been forced on to the back foot throughout and after surviving Ward’s disallowed effort for offside, the hosts finally broke through seconds before the break.

Hunt ghosted in at Foster’s near post to score from Ebanks-Blake’s driven right wing cross.

Edwards headed wide of Foster’s exposed goal as Wolves wasted a glorious opportunity to increase their lead within two minutes of the re-start as Alex McLeish’s men showed little fight in their attempts to clinch a first away win of the season.

After Nenad Milijas had seen Foster tip over another close range effort on 64 minutes, Christophe Berra required lengthy treatment, having clattered in to the goalpost with an open goal in front of him.

The visitors played their get-out-of-jail card by throwing on Kevin Phillips, but having regularly scored against Wolves throughout his career, he missed with a free header two minutes from time as Mick McCarthy’s men registered their first clean sheet since April and ease the nerves around Molineux.