Birmingham 5 Portsmouth 0: Birmingham gave themselves a Premiership relegation lifeline by maintaining their improved form at St Andrews as they demolished Harry Redknapp's revamped side and plunged them deeper in the mire.
Blues' paltry return of just one point from the opening seven matches in front of their own fans had been the main reason for their slide into the bottom three. But this comprehensive victory thanks to goals from Jiri Jarosik, Jermaine Pennant, Matthew Upson, Mikael Forssell and David Dunn means they have taken 10 points from the last four outings on their home ground.
Steve Bruce has always maintained his squad has enough quality to climb clear of trouble once their lengthy injury list had cleared up. And a look at the substitute's bench, with the likes of Forssell and Dunn able to enter the action in the final stages, bore out the belief of the Birmingham boss.
Portsmouth only threatened in the opening quarter when a combination of poor finishing and some fine saves by Maik Taylor kept them at bay. After that Blues were in the ascendancy with Emile Heskey causing problems up front and Pompey struggling to cope with the pace and crosses of Pennant, while Upson became an increasingly solid figure at the back.
Redknapp clearly has much work to do, particularly defensively, if his side are to cling onto their top-flight status. Maik Taylor was twice called into action inside the first five minutes. First the Northern Ireland number one clung onto a low effort from the edge of the area by Mathew Taylor. Then he reacted quickly to block an effort from Benjani Mwaruwari after he had been sent clear by Vincent Pericard.
But after five minutes City went ahead through leading scorer Jiri Jarosik's seventh goal of the campaign. Pennant began the move with some trickery on the right before supplying a pass for Mario Melchiot who had time and space to measure his cross. Jarosik was the first to react at the far post and he outjumped Jamie Ashdown to power his header home.
It was just the start needed by the home side but Pericard should have levelled within two minutes. The fit again striker seized onto Pedro Mendes' through-pass but, with only Maik Taylor to beat, slipped his shot wide of the far post. Emile Heskey was causing problems for the visitors and he pounced on a misguided header from Pompey captain Dejan Stefanovic to set up a chance for Chris Sutton. The former Celtic striker struck his shot cleanly enough from 12 yards but it was at a nice height to enable Ashdown to make the save at the expense of a corner.
Birmingham did not look completely at ease defensively and Mwaruwari stabbed the ball over the top from close range following a cross-cum-shot from Matthew Taylor. But after 38 minutes Pennant enabled the home side to double their lead. Kenny Cunningham's ball forward was flicked on by Heskey and then a dummy by Sutton allowed Pennant to seize on the opportunity and his low left-footed shot flew past Ashdown.
Redknapp took only eight minutes of the second half to replace Pericard with Emmanuel Olisadebe, who had a brief spell on trial with Birmingham in the summer of 2002. But Blues were soon back on the offensive and after 53 minutes put themselves firmly in control as Upson scored his first goal of the campaign. Noe Pamarot produced a perfectly fair tackle to halt Izzet at the expense of a corner but the Portsmouth marking was non-existent as Upson headed home Pennant's centre.
It needed another solid challenge by Pamarot to deny Stan Lazaridis as he lined up a shot and Izzet was only just too high with a long range effort. Maik Taylor had had little to do in the opening part of the second half but he showed his worth when blocking Mwaruwari's close-range shot after the striker had cut back inside.
Pennant's crosses were causing Pompey problems and Heskey headed wide when it seemed easier to score. Then in the final minute Pamarot brought down Forssell who scored himself from the penalty spot - his first league goal of the season. In injury-time Sutton set Dunn for the fifth goal.
