Portsmouth 1 Birmingham 2:Birmingham gained revenge for their weekend FA Cup exit against Portsmouth after sending the Premier League's bottom club closer to relegation with a narrow win at Fratton Park.
Despite going down 2-0 on the South Coast last Saturday, two goals from Cameron Jerome gave them the three points.
Substitute Kanu pulled one back in the dying minutes but with Pompey already five points from safety and facing a likely nine point deduction, this proved of little consolation in their uphill battle for survival.
Despite looking settled in the opening stages, Pompey’s defence began to look nervy and this allowed Jerome to fire the visitors ahead after 16 minutes. He latched on to Christian Benitez’s pass through the home rearguard before slotting the ball coolly to David James’ right.
Alex McLeish’s side nearly doubled their advantage after 26 minutes. Benitez was found by Michel’s ball forward and squared for Craig Gardner, whose shot whistled just wide of the target.
Birmingham put daylight between themselves and Pompey three minutes before the break when Benitez back-heeled the ball to Jerome who shot under the diving James.
Piquionne had a golden opportunity to get the home side back into the match just before the hour mark, but failed to connect with a Nadir Belhadj cross from the left.
With Pompey still struggling to find the breakthrough, Grant made another attacking move as Kanu was brought on for Michael Brown.
Scott Dann had a half chance to make it three for Birmingham after 71 minutes, but his strike from Keith Fahey’s corner looped high over the bar.
Substitute James McFadden nearly made the points safe after 81 minutes when he turned Pompey defender Tal Ben-Haim, but James was equal to his low effort.
Dindane came agonisingly close to pulling one back when he had a stunning attempt from the left side of the box tipped over by Hart. But Kanu made no mistake and headed home O’Hara’s cross from the right after 90 minutes to set up a nervy finale for the visitors.
But defeat sent Pompey a step closer to the Championship.