Birmingham - Aston Villa 3-0 (1-0)
Morrison 31, Enckelman 77 (og), Horsfield 84
Team details
| Birmingham: |
Vaesen, Kenna, Purse, Cunningham, Grainger, Devlin (Powell 79), Savage (Hughes 87), Cisse, Damien Johnson, John, Morrison (Horsfield 69) |
| Substitutes not used: |
Bennett, Lazaridis |
| Booked: |
Grainger, Purse, Cisse |
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| Aston Villa: |
Enckelman, Mellberg, Alpay, Staunton, De la Cruz, Kinsella, Johnsen, Barry, Samuel, Allback (Dublin 45), Angel (Vassell 45) |
| Substitutes not used: |
Postma, Hendrie, Moore |
| Booked: |
Alpay, Barry |
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| Attendance: |
29,505 |
| Referee: |
D. Elleray (Middlesex) |
Sky Sports match report
 Steve Staunton has to resort to violence to keep a Birmingham thug away during the scandalous pitch invasion.  Poor Peter Enckelman is consoled by Goalkeeper Coach Eric Steele after the game. The poor lad was heartbroken after his horrendous blunder and apologised to all Villa fans the next day. |
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Olof Mellberg sent a throw-in back to the Finnish stopper, but the ball slipped under his foot and into the bottom corner to double the Blues lead with 13 minutes remaining.
While Villa players argued furiously that the keeper had not touched the ball, Enckelman's reaction seemed to suggest that it had indeed just caught the bottom of his studs. It halted a fightback by the visitors, who were creating the better chances in the second-half until that all but ended their hopes.
New Blues striker Clinton Morrison had started his side on the road to victory just after the half-hour with his third goal in two games.
The £4.5million took advantage of some hesitant Villa defending to give the Blues the lead.
Robbie Savage was the only person to react to Jeff Jeff Kenna's cross as the visitors' backline froze and, although he miscontrolled the ball, it fell straight to Morrison, who slid the ball neatly under the onrushing Enckelman.
It was the moment that the St Andrews' faithful had been dreaming of for 16 years and some of the fans sprinted on to the pitch to join in the players' celebrations.
For the neutral, it was exactly what the game needed. After all the build-up to the "Second City derby", the match was poor, both in quality and entertainment, until Morrison's 31st-minute strike.
After that, we got the more usual derby-day fayre and Darren Purse was fortunate that the referee gave him just a yellow card for an awful, high studs-first challenge on Juan Pablo Angel. With all the talk over misconduct charges for elbows that don't land, surely it's challenges like this, one that could end a career, that the FA should investigate.
For whatever reason, that foul spurred Villa into action and Ulises de la Cruz came close to drawing level. Running on to a clever quick free-kick from Gareth Barry, the Ecuador international unleashed a ferocious shot that, via a slight deflection, cannoned off the crossbar.
After a woeful first period, Taylor withdrew toothless strike pair Angel and Marcus Allback at the break, trying the little-and-large combination of Dion Dublin and Darius Vassell.
It certainly gave Villa added urgency and they thought they had found the leveller 12 minutes into the second half.
England star Vassell pounced after Darren Purse had failed to deal with Mark Kinsella's forward header, but, much to the chagrin of manager Graham Taylor, was ruled to be in an offside position.
With de la Cruz and JLloyd Samuel prompting from either wing and Dublin causing problems in the middle, the Villans were getting closer to an equaliser, with Vassell heading wide after Nico Vaesen had dropped a cross. However, then came Enckelman's gaffe and they were stunned.
Geoff Horsfield sent the home fans into apoplexy when he made sure of the win with six minutes remaining. The substitute caught Alpay in possession and found a small gap between the hapless goalkeeper and the near post for the first Premiership goal in his five-year career.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Robbie Savage (Birmingham)
The perfect man in the midfield for a derby match. Ferocious in the tackle, the Welshman created the crucial first goal and stopped the Villa midfield from giving their strikers any service.