A fired up City side tear into laid back Birmingham, scoring early, reducing them to ten men and eventually claiming three vital points. 

Full backs. It's all about full backs. The least spectacular position in most football teams, City's full backs are pivotal to the success and failure of Phil Brown's 4-3-3 system. If they are able to find time and space to get forward then they provide our narrow midfield with the chance to work the ball wide and out of danger, and they are a good launch pad for passing-based attacks. If they are denied time and space then they can't get forward, they are forced to hoof the ball away - or square the ball for a centre back to hoof the ball away - and our formation turns ugly instantly.

There were so many differences between Tuesday's Barnsley debacle and today's fine win. But one key difference was that the two Hungarian truck drivers that Barnsley played up front hustled and harried our back four for 90 minutes and denied our full backs to chance to do their damage, whereas today a diffident Brum side largely let our back four pass the ball around and stride forward at will. Tuesday - horrid. Saturday - lovely.

There have been many lovely Saturdays in Nicky Forster's career, a good number of them probably came when he turned out for Birmingham. But few could have been so effective and rewarding as today. He didn't score any goals and frankly he never looked especially likely to. But his contribution to the team in terms of tireless running into channels, towering headers and fine hold up play set the scene for this victory. Forster did to Birmingham today what Ferenczi and Rajczi did to us on Tuesday - with rather similar results. Birmingham's expensively assembled squad was quelled - even the twinkle toed Bendtner was quiet after an initial flurry - and they were soon lowered to the sort of long ball hoofery that their front players are unlikely to relish. The fact that there was only 10 of them for the majority of the game helped also.

Windass for Parkin was no-brainer, while the injured Dawson and McPhee were replaced by Coles and Elliott so that City lined up:

Myhill
Ricketts Coles Turner Delaney
Parlour Ashbee Livermore
Forster Windass Elliott

Proper 4-3-3 stuff with Elliott and Forster haring forward when we had the ball and rushing back to cover when we didn't. Forster's running was immense today, it was proper "every blade of grass" stuff by a player that under the tutelage of his buddy Phil Parkinson looked ready to drift towards the end of his career, but is now totally revitalised by Phil Brown. Top management.

The scene was set in the first minute as Birmingham won a throw in front of East Stand and Windass issued a fire-stoking Henman Fist and "C'MON!" battle cry to the masses. The players were fired up and ready to get into Birmingham's faces, the fans were ready to respond and so the virtuous circle began to turn.

Not that Birmingham were bereft of ideas for threatening City's goal. Jaidi rose to win a header from a free kick on 4 but it was steered to McSheffrey in an offside position. McSheffrey was perhaps the only Brum player to leave the pitch with his reputation intact, he was quick and dangerous throughout and put in a fine defensive shift as well to keep Ricketts at bay most of the time. Not all the time though ... because after 9 minutes a towering Coles header (there were plenty of them as Danny returned to form with a vengeance) found Ricketts on the right and he played a neat ball into Ray Parlour (full name Raimondo Parlour, son of a South of France arms dealer). Parlour glanced up briefly and slotted a delightful ball in behind the static Birmingham defence, allowing Windass to run in and shoot past Doyle, reopening a City goalscoring account last added to against Blackpool at Boothferry Park in the Associate Members' Cup in November 1995. Unrestrained joy in the stands and a rather muted celebration from the City side. Is Windass not Mr Popular? Or is it simply that the squad is suitably focussed and not apt to get carried away with a single goal so early in the game against one of the League leaders.

If it was the latter, then the cautious approach was justified. A bit of City pressure was curtailed by a Clemence interception and he fed the speedy McSheffrey who advanced 50 yards before being chopped down by a City defender, earning a deserved yellow card. I thought the perpetrator was Turner, although I note that press and Internet reports suggest the miscreant was Coles. Whatever, the free kick was wasted. Moments later another Coles header dropped to McSheffrey 40 yards out and he struck a first time shot that looped up and would have passed just beneath the crossbar had Myhill not back-pedalled with agility and clawed it away for a corner.

That was about it for Birmingham, they'd seen enough. On 22 Forster hustled and harried Brum defenders wanting to play neat square balls to each other, before he finally charged down a goalie's clearance for a goal kick. OK, nothing came of this incident but I felt it was turning point. Birmingham's defence wilted a little and City's front three were lifted further. In the space of five minutes a poor goalkeeper clearance was played forward to Windass, who held the ball up well before laying it off to Parlour, whose firm shot sailed a yard or two over. Then Elliott flashed a cross shot wide and Livermore had a shot blocked after an Elliott pass. On 34 a wasteful Birmingham pass was intercepted by Ashbee and he played a well weighted through ball into the path of the pacey Elliott, rampaging down the middle of the pitch. Elliott got to the ball first, the inattentive Jaidi got there a split second later, Elliott was reduced to a crumpled heap and the referee was left with no choice but to invite the last defender to enjoy an early dip in the KC washing facilities. 1-0, 11 versus 10. Not quite the expectation most City fans had at 2:59pm, I would venture.

It continued. Windass had a free kick deflected inches wide, Forster brought down a Myhill kick and fed Windass whose left foot shot flashed just over. Larsson was heavily exposed as makeshift right back after the red card and was spared his blushes on 39 when Kelly was introduced to replace front man Campbell. At half time Larsson's woes were complete when he was withdrawn - if he'd stayed at Arsenal this season he'd probably be starting in the League Cup final tomorrow. The daft get.

The decision to withdraw Campbell, a nippy larker with fire in his belly, was made all the stranger when it emerged that Larsson's replacement was Danish hotshot Bendtner. Why take off a striker then put another one on 6 minutes later? Steve Bruce knows best I suppose. It would also be valid to ask why Bendtner didn't start the game because I think he is an awesome player that with the right attitude and guidance will become Arsenal's next 25 goals a season man when Henry departs. He's six foot four, unbeatable in the air, has a magical touch and can score goals. In the first ten minutes of the second half he was pretty much unplayable and only the inability of his team-mates to read his thoughts prevented him from causing havoc with the scoreline. That said, City continued to press forward when they had the chance and adopted the tactic of defending stoutly 30 yards from goal - the Taylorian two banks of four, sometimes five - then attacking in numbers when they got possession in an attempt to draw Birmingham on and exploit the extra man advantage. As a consequence Birmingham had quite a bit of the ball but the actual chances continued to fall City's way. Livermore played a short free kick, received the ball back and launched a rocket propelled shot that arrowed towards the top right corner of the goal, allowing keeper to Doyle to show his fast reactions and agility as he palmed it onto the crossbar. Then a quick City clearance found Forster haring down the right, he took on his younger foe Sadler for pace and won easily before winning a corner off N'Gotty who made a last ditch byline tackle. A further two minutes later on 56 Forster again received the ball on the right, and he twisted and turned before running into the box near its right flank. Forster pace and trickery were too much for the lanky centre back Taylor who chopped Nicky down in a manner that no referee could interpret any other way than a nailed on penalty. After a bit of sorting out, Windass stepped and struck a low shot that was powerful enough to evade the keeper's dive, despite the fact that Doyle guessed - and dived - right.

Game pretty much over. Vine replaced Jerome, who had looked well up for it in the opening minutes but faded completely after the sending off. That's why Middlesbrough concluded you'll never make it in the top league Cameron, your attitude reeks, you're the new Clinton Morrison. Forster continued to terrorise the Birmingham back four as he used his pace and tricks to make space, create chances and win corners. On 75 Windass refused his hattrick chance as a tremendous trick by Elliott won him space to cross and Deano's 15 yard effort was too close to the goalkeeper. Windass had another chance a minute later when Delaney was fouled on half way and a quickly taken free kick was steered to Dean down the inside right channel. Despite a decent first touch and the half-hearted attempts at a tackle by the covering defender, the shot was a "good height" for the keeper and was parried for a corner.

Late on, Welsh was introduced for the warmly received Parlour and the young Scouser was soon combining with Ricketts on the right to create a deep cross that Windass headed a foot wide at the far post. Then Marney replaced Livermore, again warmly received. And finally Windass was replaced by Parkin on 90, Dean was cheered rapturously and a few morons booed Parkin as he strode on. The Beast has been shorn temporarily of his powers, but he looks to have responded in the right way. He's spruced himself up, had a shave and did his best to harry and hurry in the three minutes of injury time. The merest of cameos, but what we saw suggested that Parkin had learned his lesson of recent weeks and restored the required attitude to his game.

So, with other teams around us losing and drawing we are elevated two places and move four points away from Southend and Leeds, both of whom are starting to look vulnerable now. Leeds' cause won't be helped if they suffer the inevitable backlash created by this City result when they play Birmingham on Tuesday. My faith after Barnsley was sorely tested, but this result demonstrates it conceivable that there are 3 teams worse than the Tigers in this division that we can finish the season above. We have a few players returning from fitness, we have Barmby back in the squad in 3-4 weeks time and we have a system that continues to deliver effective attacking football when played correctly. One can see the current trend of struggling against strugglers and surprising high-flyers continuing - we need another 15-18 points to be safe, and 12 games to get them. Win your home games - that's the key.

HULL CITY (4-3-3): Myhill; Ricketts, Coles, Turner, Delaney; Parlour, Ashbee, Livermore; Forster, Windass, Elliott.  Subs: Welsh (for Parlour, 80), Marney (for Livermore, 89), Parkin (for Windass, 89), Doyle, Duke.

Goals: Windass 10, 57 (pen)

Booked: Coles

Sent Off: None

BIRMINGHAM CITY: Doyle, N'Gotty, Martin Taylor, Jaidi, Sadler, Clemence, Larsson, Danns, Campbell, Jerome, McSheffrey,  Subs: Kelly (for Campbell, 39), Bendtner (for Larsson, 46), Vine (for Jerome, 65), Maik Taylor, Nafti.

Goals: None

Booked: None

Sent Off: Jaidi

REFEREE:  C Webster

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