Trevor Francis' Blues strengthened their promotion push as they coasted to victory over struggling West Brom at the Hawthorns.

It was striker Dele Adebola who did the damage as he punished slack defensive play by Albion with two goals inside three first-half minutes.

Then, with just four minutes left on the clock, City underlined their authority as substitute Marcelo grabbed another goal to leave Albion now with just one win in 18 games.

But the game could have gone in a different direction with Albion striker James Quinn rattling the City woodwork with a volley after just four minutes.

The miss by the Irish striker proved costly because just two minutes later Blues opened the scoring when Adebola found the target for the first time.

The Nigerian international striker pounced onto a weak nod back by defender Matt Carbon and headed the ball over keeper Chris Adamson and into the back of the net.

It was 2-0 just three minutes later when the dangerous Adebola was on the mark again to take his tally to five goals in six games after being given a fresh chance by Francis.

The striker seized onto a superb through ball from Simon Charlton and made no mistake with his second shot after his first hit the foot of the near post.

t was always promotion-chasing City who held the attacking reins but they had to wait until the 86th minute before their efforts were further rewarded.

Martin Grainger chipped a marvellous right-wing cross into the middle and Marcelo ghosted in to give Adamson no possible chance with a well placed header.

The luckless Adamson has now let in 11 goals in just three games with Albion continuing to hang dangerously close to the Division One relegation zone.

Manager Brian Little has been trying desperately hard to spend the £4.3million from the sale of Enzo Maresca to Juventus and he will be scouring the market again next week to try and claw the club back up to the safety of mid table.

Birmingham have now been beaten just once in 10 games with boss Francis able to celebrate his manager of the month award with their latest success.

West Brom were missing star striker Lee Hughes and Dutch schemer Richard Sneekes for the derby game because of suspension.

And their desperate bid to avoid the dreaded drop will not be helped by the red card against City for Icelandic defender Larus Sigurdsson, for two bookable offences.

Teams:

West Brom: Adamson, J. Chambers, Sigurdsson, Carbon, Van Blerk, Hall (De Freitas 46), Townsend, Flynn, Fredgaard, Evans, Quinn.

Subs Not Used: Jensen, Burgess, Raven, Oliver.

Sent Off: Sigurdsson (76).

Booked: Sigurdsson, Carbon.

Birmingham: Bennett, Rowett, Holdsworth, Purse, Charlton, Grainger, Hughes, Hyde (Carrick 84), Lazaridis, Adebola (Marcelo 78), Rankin (A. Johnson 46).

Subs Not Used: Poole, M. Johnson.

Booked: Grainger, Purse, Hyde.

Goals: Adebola 6, 8, Marcelo 86.

Att: 17,029

Ref: M Dean (Eastham).