Birmingham 1 Wigan Athletic 0
Saturday 27th February 2010, 5:01PM GMT.
Birmingham City finally reached the magic 40-point mark after taking the lead and holding onto it against Wigan.
James McFadden’s goal from the penalty spot in first-half injury time sealed the win at St Andrew’s, who held tight in the face of a spirited Latics resolve after the break.
It was former Blues defender Mario Melchiot who handed his old club the advantage, with the challenge on Keith Fahey where contact appeared minimal but referee Anthony Taylor still pointed to the spot.
Up stepped McFadden to send goalkeeper Chris Kirkland the wrong way with the penalty kick.
Wigan came out all guns blazing after the break and Hugo Rodallega was denied by a brilliant block from goalkeeper Joe Hart, who charged down the striker’s shot from eight yards.
Rodallega later prodded another chance wide when well placed, after being up by sub Victor Moses.
Birmingham sub Kevin Phillips also went close to wrapping the game up at the death, but dallied on the ball when clean through.
UK Sport
Latest Blog — A week is a long time in football
This time last week we were staring down the barrel, third from bottom with a worse record than at the same stage last year, writes Saddlers blogger Mark Jones.
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