Birmingham City suffered a 1-0 defeat to Cardiff City at St Andrews on Wednesday, further deepening their relegation fears.
The Blues took advantage of the game in the first half when Koji Miyoshi hit the post, but Juninho Bacuna made a save from Ethan Horvath.
But Birmingham, who were enjoying their most dominant period of the game, were dealt a powerful punch at the other end of the pitch when Josh Bowler turned in Rubin Colwill's low cross.
Cardiff came back after the goal and could have doubled their lead thanks to Karlan Grant. Grant had a number of chances late on that could have ended the game.
However, it didn't matter as Cardiff continued to increase the pressure on Birmingham. Birmingham still sit in a safe 23rd place with just one point in the Championship with four games in hand.
Time is running out for Birmingham City after a turbulent season in the Championship.
In the build-up to Wednesday's game, chairman Tom Wagner admitted the club had sacked John Eustace as manager too soon before appointing Wayne Rooney in October.
Rooney was then replaced by Tony Mowbray, who is on official sick leave, while Gary Rowett returned to the club for the third time to help keep the Blues from relegation to League One.
Rowett said “We need results, not words.” When he took over, however, they have now suffered their third loss in four games.
Had it been another day for Birmingham, things could have been very different. It was unfortunate that Miyoshi's shot hit the base of the left post early in the match and was deflected.
Cardiff posed little threat in the first half, but John Ruddy had to be alert to prevent Yakou Meite's shot after Grant's powerful driving run.
Baek Seung-ho was the next to threaten the Blues, but Bakuna could only fire a shot straight at Horvath after his first shot was blocked by Liverpool loanee Nat Phillips.
Jordan James came close to taking the lead just before half-time, but the Wales international's first attempt at curling unfortunately went just wide of the post.
Aaron Ramsey, who returned to Cardiff's starting XI, replaced Colwill, who became the center of all positives for the Bluebirds in the second half.
Despite never really testing Horvath, it was Birmingham who had the best chance of breaking the stalemate after the break.
And he was made to pay for his lack of clinical edge in the final third. Bowler and Colwill exchanged a one-two and the Nottingham Forest loanee placed the ball on the plate and into the bottom corner for his first goal.
This goal halted Birmingham City's attack and from that point on it looked like the Bluebirds were most likely to score.
Cardiff manager Errol Brutt handed youngster Cian Ashford his league debut in the closing stages. He looked upbeat and launched a dangerous counter-attack that almost sealed victory, but Grant's shot deflected wide and into the corner.
The Bluebirds held on in the final minutes and the Brut team moved up to 59 points. Despite being in 11th place, they are still mathematically in playoff contention.
Cardiff City manager Errol Bullitt told BBC Sport Wales: “I was happy with the 90 minutes and from the first moment I was completely focused on the game.
“It wasn't easy. Birmingham needed points and they pushed really hard to score so we don't deserve to be in this position, but that's how football is.
“We had good positioning behind the ball, we moved well with the ball and we could have scored another goal or two.”
lineup
birmingham
formation 4-2-3-1
- twenty oneRudy
- 2Laird
- 44Love Crow
- Fivesanderson
- 3buchananReplacementDoramein 70 minutesminutes
- 13Baek Seung Ho
- 6BielikBooked in 54 minutesReplacementhoganin 79 minutesminutes
- 11MiyoshiReplacementandersonin 70 minutesminutes
- 19jamesReplacementpritchardin 70 minutesminutes
- 7BakunaReplacementgardnerin 86 minutesminutes
- 28Stansfield
substitute
- 1Etheridge
- 8Roberts
- 9hogan
- 12Dorame
- 14anderson
- 16Dozel
- 20gardner
- 29pritchard
- 34Seungjik
cardiff
formation 4-4-1-1
- 1Horvath
- 38hmmBooked in 47 minutes
- 12philips
- FourGhouta
- 17collins
- 14bowlerBooked in 58 minutesReplacementashfordin 71 minutesminutes
- 8LarsBooked in 73 minutesReplacementturnbullin 81 minutesminutes
- twenty threeSiopis
- 16Grant
- TenramseyReplacementColwillin 45 minutesminutes
- twenty twoMeiteReplacementDiediuin 72 minutesminutes
substitute
- 15turnbull
- 19Sawyers
- 20diediu
- 27Colwill
- 32tanner
- 34Colwill
- 41turner
- 45ashford
- Referee:
- Sam Allison
- Attendance:
- 20,894
live text
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Game over, Birmingham City 0, Cardiff City 1.
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End of the second half, Birmingham City 0, Cardiff City 1.
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Cardiff City Corner. Baek Seung-ho conceded a point.
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Attempt blocked. Jay Stansfield (Birmingham City) took a left-footed shot from the right side of the box, but it was blocked.
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Birmingham City Corner. Nathaniel Phillips surrenders.
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Substitute, Birmingham City. Gary Gardner replaces Juninho Bacuna.
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Attempt blocked. Jamil Collins (Cardiff City)'s left-footed shot from outside the box was blocked. Assisted by Sian Ashford.
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Foul on Dion Sanderson (Birmingham City).
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Famara Diediou (Cardiff City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
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Substitution, Cardiff City. David Turnbull replaces Joe Ralls.
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Keshi Anderson (Birmingham City) wins a free kick on the right.
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Foul by Joe Ralls (Cardiff City).
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Substitute, Birmingham City. Scott Hogan replaces Christian Bielik.
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Keshi Anderson (Birmingham City) wins a free kick in defence.
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Foul on Dimitrios Gutas (Cardiff City).
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Foul on Christian Bielik (Birmingham City).
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Rubin Colwill (Cardiff City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
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Cardiff City Corner. Emmanuel Aiu conceded a goal.
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Attempt blocked. Karlan Grant (Cardiff City)'s right-footed shot from outside the box was blocked. Assisted by Rubin Colwill.
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Attempt blocked. Karlan Grant (Cardiff City)'s right-footed shot from the center of the box was blocked. Assisted by Rubin Colwill.