At last a win for Manchester City and their beleaguered fans - but only just.

City were on course for a comfortable passage into the fourth round of the FA Cup when they raced into a 3-0 half-time lead against Birmingham at Maine Road.

City's miserable run in the Premiership, which has seen them slip into the relegation zone, was forgotten in the first 45 minutes.

But City's cracks at the back opened up again in the second half and Birmingham took advantage to mount a fightback.

Trevor Francis' side bagged two goals inside four minutes and City endured an uncomfortable last 30 minutes before referee Matt Messias blew the full-time whistle to signal only their second win in their last 10 games.

This was the first time the sides have met in the FA Cup since City beat Birmingham 3-1 in the 1956 Wembley final to lift the trophy for the third time.

City paraded Roy Little, Roy Clarke, Ken Barnes and Bill Lievers from that victorious side in an attempt to rally the home fans among the relatively sparse crowd of 19,380, which was Maine Road's second lowest attendance of the season.

One player who needed no motivation was Richard Edghill, who was back atMaine Road for the first time since he was booed off by the City fans five months ago.

Any worries he might have had about facing the City faithful again were immediately dispelled when the home supporters applauded his early touches.

Like Edghill, Andy Morrison has also seen his fortunes at City transformed.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, Morrison feared his career at City might be over.

The beefy centre-half had struggled to win back his place after two knee operations and spent the first part of the season on loan at Blackpool and Crystal Palace before returning to the side last month.

The 30-year-old was making only his third start of the season against Birmingham and he crowned his renaissance by opening the scoring in the 18th minute.

Alfie Haaland made a strong run and won a corner on the right-hand side. Danny Tiatto swung in the corner and Morrison rose inside the six-yard box to power home a header for his first goal since March 1999.

On 31 minutes Darren Huckerby made it 2-0 when he scored his second goal for City with a fine solo effort.

He started on the right touchline and accelerated past two Birmingham challenges into the box before scoring with a right-foot shot.

City's new £2.5million striker then went off injured to be replaced by Paul Dickov, but that made little difference to the home side who scored a third three minutes before the interval.

Birmingham goalkeeper Ian Bennett brought down Haaland for a penalty andShaun Goater stepped up to fire home the spot-kick.

Incredibly City had scored three goals from only three attempts on goal.

Birmingham finally came to life in the second half and Darren Purse had a shot cleared off the line before Richard Dunne made a vital interception to deflect Peter Ndlovu's shot wide for a corner.

City failed to heed these warnings and in the 57th minute the First Division side pulled a goal back.

Dickov could only clear a cross as far as Martin Grainger, just outside the City box, and he hit a terrific shot into the far top corner giving Nicky Weaver no chance.

Birmingham scored a second within four minutes when City failed to deal with Stan Lazaridis' cross and Nicky Eaden nodded the ball back for Dele Adebola to glance home a header from six yards out.

The visitors pushed for an equaliser and Weaver made a great save to deny substitute Marcelo.

Dickov wasted a couple of opportunities to seal victory in the dying minutes and the final whistle was greeted with relief by the City fans.

Teams:

Man City: Weaver, Edghill, Dunne, Morrison, Howey (Prior 58), Tiatto, Wiekens (Bishop 46), Haaland, Granville, Huckerby (Dickov 41), Goater.

Subs Not Used: Charvet, Wright.

Booked: Dickov.

Goals: Morrison 18, Huckerby 31, Goater 43 pen.

Birmingham: Bennett, Gill (Horsfield 86), Purse, Michael Johnson, Grainger, Eaden (Marcelo 77), Sonner, O'Connor, Lazaridis, Ndlovu (Hughes 77), Adebola.

Subs Not Used: Poole, Burrows.

Booked: Gill.

Goals: Grainger 57, Adebola 61.

Att: 19,380

Ref: M Messias (York).