Birmingham 2 Blackburn 1

Craig Gardner scored twice and Ben Foster saved a penalty as Birmingham battled back to beat Blackburn.

There was great optimism in the stand before kick-off, as Blues owner Carson Yeung saluted the crowd.

But optimism and excitement were soon replaced by toil, graft and not a great deal of skill as both sides produced an untidy first-half short on action.

Cameron Jerome drew an early save from Paul Robinson in the first minute but his low shot was easily held by the Blackburn goalkeeper.

His opposite number Ben Foster also showed assured hands early on, plucking Diouf's dangerous cross out of the air a minute later on his home debut.

Stephen Carr was next to try his luck at goal, but his long range effort fizzed well over the bar from distance.

Roger Johnson produced a timely interception to guide Martin Olsson's cross goal cut back behind in the 10th minute, albeit at the expense of a corner.

Diouf then fired over from 30 yards, as both sides struggled to create decent chances.

The wastage continued as Pedersen fired an inviting free-kick through the Blues box, but no one on either side managed to get a touch as the chance went begging.

Blackburn continued to dominate possession throughout much of the half, as the home fans grew frustrated.

Gigantic summer signing Nikola Zigic almost put the ball into his own net midway through the half, after heading Pedersen's free kick goalwards, but Foster scrambled the ball behind for a corner.

Blues regrouped slightly before half-time and Scott Dann drew a fantastic save from Robinson with half an hour gone, when his close range header was flipped over the bar from Larsson's corner.

Kalinic, who was probably the classiest player in a drab first-half, pulled a shot across goal from a tight angle with 11 minutes left before the break, after getting behind Blues' backline.

Johnson then produced another vital interception to deny Kalinic, who had again gotten in behind the Blues defence, just before half-time.

The second-half started far livelier, as Gardner's early cross was cleared by Salgado and the former Villa midfielder then fired wide a minute later from distance.

But that hard work appeared to have been undone when Zigic tugged down Samba, as they tussled in the box.

Zigic was booked for his misdemeanour, but Blues were spared further punishment when Foster pushed Pedersen's well-struck penalty onto the bar, to the delight of the home fans.

But Nzonzi kept the pressure on for the visitors, when his close range header was pushed wide by Foster from Pedersen's corner.

And the same man put Blackburn ahead after 56 minutes, powering home yet another Pedersen corner kick.

But their joy was short-lived, as Gardner turned home McFadden's cutback to level within five minutes.

Kalinic then forced an acrobatic save from Foster with a fierce low drive, before his close range header came back off the post with Foster beaten.

It would cost them, as Blues completed their comeback with 19 minutes left, when Gardner's speculative long range drive dipped past Robinson for that proved to be the winning goal.

Blackburn drove forward to try to steal a point in the game's final quarterbut Jerome and Dann cleared late crosses from Pedersen and Emerton, as the home side held on to record their first win of the new season.