Birmingham C 0-2 Portsmouth:Goalkeeper Richard Kingson's horrendous blunder and a superb strike from Niko Kranjcar piled on the misery for managerless Birmingham and kept Harry Redknapp's side on course for a European spot.

Caretaker manager Eric Black gambled on dropping the experienced Maik Taylor but the move backfired as Kingson - on his Barclays Premier League debut - allowed a shot from Sulley Muntari to slip under his body.

Then Kranjcar, scorer of Croatia's first goal against England via Scott Carson's blunder in midweek, drilled home a superb free-kick with eight minutes remaining.

It clinched a fifth successive away win for Pompey and extended their unbeaten league run to nine games to keep them in the top six.

But Birmingham, who had beaten Pompey 5-0 when they last met at St Andrews two seasons ago, have now lost six of their last seven league games and are sliding rapidly towards the relegation zone.