Walsall 1-2 Birmingham

Birmingham City finished with only nine men in the West Midlands derby at the Bescot Stadium, but were still too good for newly-promoted Walsall.

They had defender Martin Grainger sent off in the 35th minute and substitute Danny Sonner in the 72nd minute, both for second bookable offences.

But they had done the damage with a powerful performance in the first half which completely took the sting out of the Saddlers.

Geoff Horsfield and strike partner Tommy Mooney led the home defence a merry dance and it was no surprise when Blues took the lead in the 20th minute.

Winger Stan Lazaridis hooked the ball into the box, Horsfield found Bryan Hughes and from his pass Mooney ran wide before striking a low shot into the net for his third goal of the season.

Costly

Walsall were disjointed and lacking any sort of authority, although Darren Byfield missed one chance to put them back in the match when he fired over the bar in the 39th minute.

That proved costly two minutes later when Horsfield held off a couple of defenders before striking a fierce low drive which took a deflection on its way past James Walker.

Walsall had most of the play in the second half but could not finish, Hughes doing well to clear off the line a header from Zigor Aranalde in the 60th minute.

After the dismissal of Sonner, Walsall stepped up their efforts to save the game but Don Goodman saw his goal-bound shot cleared off the line by Mooney in the 82nd minute.

Walsall's consolation goal came deep into stoppage time, Brazilian winger Erivelto notching his third of the season with a fine header from Tom Bennett's cross.