Martin Grainger's 47th-minute freekick proved enough to give Birmingham
victory over First Division leaders Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Kit Symons was adjudged to have fouled Dele Adebola on the edge of the goal
area and Grainger curled his freekick into the net.
Fulham created enough chances but could not overcome the handicap of losing
all three strikers - Louis Saha, Louis Boa Morte and Barry Hayles.
Midweek signing Peter Moller led the attack, partnered by Andrejs Stolcers but
they never had the sharpness of the missing trio.
Karlheinz Riedle made his first appearance of the season as a 55th minute
substitute for the ineffective Stolcers and looked lively but it was no enough.
Once the visitors had gone ahead they made sure they had 11 players behind the
ball and goalkeeper Ian Bennett was not troubled too much because all Fulham's
efforts seemed to be blocked by bodies in blue.
Fulham's best effort came from Bjarne Goldbaek who had a freekick in an
identical position to Grainger, but his effort struck the underside of the bar.
Reidle came close too but it was not Fulham's day. Former Fulham crowd
favourite Geoff Horsfield was back in the Birmingham side and worked hard for
little reward.
His partner Adebola had better chances but wasted them and it was the
dangerous Stan Lazaridis that caused Fulham most problems.
Birmingham began the day 20 points behind Fulham but with a game in hand and
still in a play-off position.
They looked good enough to remain in the top six without threatening Bolton or
a full strength Fulham.
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