Blackpool boss Lee Clark defeated his old club Birmingham City as Steven Davies scored the only goal of the game to fire his side to a 1-0 victory at Bloomfield Road this afternoon.
The visitors threatened as David Cotterill surged forward and managed to win a free kick just outside the penalty area. The winger took the set piece himself and forced a good save out of Joe Lewis, who tipped the ball away from goal.
Birmingham tried to push forward again and Stephen Gleeson tried his luck from 25 yards with a dipping volley after latching on to a poor clearance, but Lewis was on hand to make a solid stop.
The Blues continued to have the better of the match as Paul Caddis released the run of Lee Novak, who drilled the ball across the face of goal, but Kevin Foley was on hand to clear his effort off the line.
In the second half, Clayton Donaldson could have given his side the lead following good build-up play from Gleeson, but he could only put his right-footed strike wide of the post.
The visitors were to rue the missed opportunity when Blackpool took the lead through Davies as he collected the ball on the edge of the area, turned his marker and buried an effort into the bottom corner.
Jacob Murphy almost doubled the Tangerines lead as he spotted Darren Randolph off his line and launched a long-range effort towards goal, and the keeper was forced to tip the ball over the bar with a fingertip stop.
Murphy came close again minutes later as he surged into the final third of the pitch and unleashed a powerful strike at goal, which was well saved by Randolph to keep the Blues in the game.
Birmingham made a late push, but Clark's side held out to earn three vital points in their fight against relegation.
Simon Sinclair
