Birmingham manager Alex McLeish admitted his side wasted a golden opportunity to go second after they surrendered meekly at 10-man Blackpool.

Victory would have lifted Alex McLeish’s side above Reading and into the automatic promotion places. But first-half strikes from former Blues striker DJ Campbell and midfielder Keith Southern sealed their fate.

Not even the 74th minute dismissal of substitute Claus Jorgensen – following an off-the-ball challenge on Lee Bowyer – could spark Blues.

McLeish said: “It’s a lost opportunity but there are a lot of games left and I don’t think it’s time to press the panic button. We’re disappointed but we’ve got to show perseverance and some of the players must realise that they’ve got to give us a lot more.

“There are no excuses and, as a team with our aspirations, the players know they have to do much better than that. The lack of goals is a concern but I felt the real problem was the long ball over the top, which we struggled to cope with.”

Blues reject Campbell admitted he was fired up to play against his old club.

The diminutive striker, who spent 18 months at St Andrews between January 2006 and July 2007, is on loan at Bloomfield Road from League One leaders Leicester until the end of the season.

He said: “I feel I am playing well long may it continue. I was really determined to do well against Birmingham. I scored a few goals for Blues but they let me go. Perhaps that will show them what they’ve been missing.”

Two strikers on the Blues bench in Kevin Phillips and James McFadden cost more than the whole of the Blackpool squad put together, but it was the managerless Seasiders who looked more of a team.

In the 12th minute, an attempted defensive clearance was blocked by Joe Martin, who fed Gary Taylor-Fletcher and his clever lob into the box was headed home by a jubilant Campbell.

The second came in the 37th minute, when Ian Harte pumped a long free-kick into the penalty area. Again it was only half cleared and Taylor-Fletcher neatly chested the ball into the path of Southern, who scored with a rasping 22-yard half volley.