Birmingham 2 Bolton 1

Goals from Kevin Phillips and Craig Gardner were enough to drag Birmingham out of the relegation zone.

Blues took the lead after just four minutes when Phillips powered home Sebastian Larsson's corner kick, before Gardner fired in from the edge of the box 14 minutes after half-time.

Johan Elmander's well-taken strike with 20 minutes left ensured a nervous finish, but goalkeeper Ben Foster denied Bolton in stoppage time with two breath-taking saves to ensure victory.

Blues began the game in 19th place, one point from safety.

But, after a two-week rest for much of his injury-ravaged squad, manager Alex McLeish was able to field a side containing three changes from the shambolic defeat at Wigan.

More importantly, perhaps, the side contained five changes from the severely depleted team McLeish put out against Bolton in the FA Cup quarter-final a week earlier.

Stuart Parnaby returned to the starting line-up in place of the injured centre-half Martin Jiranek.

But Parnaby took up duties at left-back, with first choice Liam Ridgewell shunted into the less familiar central role.

Jean Beausejour and Jordon Mutch were also on the bench in favour of Lee Bowyer in midfield and Kevin Phillips up front, as McLeish opted for an attacking 4-4-2 formation.

Blues' joint-top scorer Nikola Zigic was also among the substitutes, after recovering from a groin strain picked up in his side's Carling Cup final win over Arsenal over a month ago.

Just as they did against Wigan two weeks ago, Blues enjoyed the ideal start as Phillips put them ahead after just four minutes.

Craig Gardner then fizzed a shot just wide of the far post as Bolton failed to clear their lines.

At the other end, Daniel Sturridge blazed over from a promising position, after cutting in past Carr on the left wing.

And Bolton defender David Wheater became the game's first booking 18 minutes in after deliberately blocking off Jerome, who was making a run through the middle.

It was a high tempo start to the game and Bolton were becoming hemmed into their own half.

Bowyer should have made it 2-0 midway through the half , firing narrowly over from deep inside the box from Larsson's deflected cross.

But Bolton again reminded their hosts of their goal threat when Kevin Davies managed to cut back Martin Petrov's deep cross inside the six yard box.

Davies' pass just needed a touch from an attacker but Blues were able to scramble the ball to safety.

Sturridge then drew a superb save from Foster after gathering Davies' headed flick on just outside the box, as Bolton appeared to be finally getting a foothold in the game.

Petrov and Sturridge then combined to present Davies with a gilt-edged seven minutes before half time, but the striker flashed the ball from deep inside the box.

At the other end, Jerome missed a great chance to extend Blues' lead, dragging a tame effort wide after going one-on -one with the goalkeeper.

Foster was then forced into two strong saves from Sturridge in the dying minutes of the half, the second of which was top class, as the striker fired a low, hard shot towards the bottom left-hand corner.

The last action of an entertaining half saw Jaaskelainen hold a powerful header by Roger Johnson from Larsson's right-wing corner.

Larsson appeared to have given Blues the perfect start to the second-half when he found the net inside two minutes, but his close range effort was disallowed for offside.

Mikel Alonso was then shown a yellow card for a foul on Phillips, before Jerome was then put through on goal but hesitated at the last minute, allowing Gretar Steinsson to clear the ball behind

Johnson was then denied from the corner by a stretching save from Jaaseklainen, but Gardner succeeded where his team-mate failed, slotting home from the edge of the box on 59 minutes.

Gardner dispatched the ball in off both posts, after a one-two with Jerome just outside the box.

Both managers opted to make their first changes of the game with 26 minutes remaining.

Bolton manager Owen Coyle brought on Lee Chung Yong, won scored the winner the last time these teams met, for Tamir Cohen, while McLeish replaced the tiring Bowyer with Keith Fahey.

Stephen Carr was then replaced by David Bentley six minutes later, with Larsson shuffled back to right-back to accommodate the on-loan Tottenham midfielder.

But Johan Elmander halved the deficit for the visitors with an acrobatic finish on the edge of the box from Davies' flick on.

It was a cheap goal to concede from Blues' perspective and Coyle then replaced midfielder Petrov with striker Ivan Klasnic, in a bid to rescue the game.

The tide appeared to be shifting in Bolton's favour and, perhaps with that in mind, Jerome was replaced by Zigic with less than 15 minutes left, while Coyle then made his final change swapping Fabrice Muamba for Matt Taylor.

But Bolton increased the pressure as Blues began to drop increasingly deep.

Johnson then cleared off the line from a Taylor corner kick in with eight minutes left.

And Foster produced two saves of the highest quality in stoppage time, first pushing Davies' header wide of the post from close range and then denying a Steinsson header from point blank range from Taylor's corner.

Sturridge nodded inches wide in the dying seconds but Blues held on to record a vital win to catapult them out of the bottom three.