Birmingham 1 Maribor 0

Birmingham bowed out of the Europa League with their heads held high after Adam Rooney's goal gave them a win over Maribor in their final group game.

Blues were reliant on Braga doing them a favour away to Club Brugge but the Portuguese side could only manage a 1-1 draw, which meant they finished a point behind last season's finalists in third place of Group H.

Boss Chris Hughton made eight changes from the side which claimed a 2-1 win over Doncaster in the Championship last weekend.

Defenders David Murphy, Jonathan Spector and Curtis Davies – who was named as captain – all remained in the starting line-up.

With Blues anxiously awaiting news from Bruges, it was a relatively subdued atmosphere at St Andrew's, although teenage winger Nathan Redmond did much to lift the crowd with some tricky wing play in the opening stages.

Maribor went close in the 15th minute from a corner, as towering centre-back Jovan Vidovic glanced a header wide of the post after poor marking by the home side.

But Blues took the lead nine minutes and it came as little surprise that Redmond was involved, given his lively start to the contest.

Redmond jinked his way past Maribor left-back Arghus and delivered an inch-perfect cross for Rooney, who directed a stooping header past goalkeeper Jasmin Handanovic.

Nikola Zigic picked the pocket of Vidovic in the 35th minute and headed towards goal, but the powerful Serbian striker could only drag his shot wide from the edge of the penalty area.

The visitors struggled to penetrate a solid Blues defence and were reduced to speculative long-range efforts.

The best came from Zeljko Filipovic, who saw his 30-yard piledriver comfortably saved by Blues goalkeeper Colin Doyle shortly before half-time.

Redmond continued in a similar vein after the interval and played a neat one-two with Spector 10 minutes into the second-half, before unleashing a powerful effort from the edge of the box which Handanovic parried and the Slovenian side cleared the danger.

Zigic should have done better when Redmond's deep cross picked him out at the back post in the 68th minute, but the tall forward could only head wide when well placed.

Moments later Redmond's outswinging corner from the left found Rooney on the corner of the six-yard box, but he was unable to get purchase on his header from close range and Handanovic gathered.

The crowd were lifted briefly when news filtered through that Braga had equalised as the game fizzled out, save for a late Redmond volley which struck the base of the post.