Birmingham City ended their three-game run without a Championship win as they punished Fulham with three first-half goals to set them up for a 5-2 win at Craven Cottage this afternoon.
It was Fulham that started the game on the front foot though, and they could have been ahead inside the opening few minutes when Jamie O'Hara collected Tom Cairney's pass and drilled an effort inches wide.
The hosts had another chance to break the deadlock when Ryan Tunnicliffe led a swift counter-attack that culminated with Moussa Dembele's shot being blocked behind.
However, Birmingham took the lead when Stephen Gleeson took aim and fired a low shot into the bottom-left corner from outside the box for his side's first goal in three games.
Clayton Donaldson was then put through on goal and skipped around Joe Lewis, only to be brought down by the Fulham goalkeeper, with Paul Caddis converting the resulting penalty.
Things got even worse for the home side when Jon Toral guided Jacques Maghoma's cross home to make it 3-0 just after the half-hour mark.
Fulham's self destruction only continued after the restart as defender James Husband saw red after collecting two bookings within the space of just two second-half minutes.
Cottagers substitute Matt Smith struck the post with an effort just after the hour mark, with the rebound just failing to land at his feet.
Kit Symons did see his side pull one back when Alex Kacaniklic fired home from close range, but Fulham's misery was compounded when Donaldson fired home late on.
There was still time for Ross McCormack to pull another back in added time, but it was too little too late for the Londoners, who then suffered further embarrassment when Viv Solomon-Otabor made it five for Birmingham deep into added-on time.
The result sees Birmingham consolidate their playoff spot and they now have a three-point gap over seventh-placed Cardiff City, while Fulham drop to 12th place.
Joe Sharratt
