Birmingham 1 Albion 3

Albion gave their survival hopes a major boost as three second-half goals gave boss Roy Hodgson his first win.

Youssouf Mulumbu, James Morrison and Paul Scharner struck for the Baggies to take Hodgson's men four points clear of the Premier League relegation zone before this afternoon's 3pm kick-offs.

Jean Beausejour equalised for Blues just a minute after Mulumbu's opener, but Morrison's spectacular strike set Albion back on course for just their second win in 14 games.

Blues, still in danger of relegation themselves, could not recapture the energy of their Carling Cup triumph over Arsenal but Albion were good value for their third away win of the season.

The Baggies started more brightly and their first chance arrived on five minutes when Jerome Thomas's cross to the far post found Chris Brunt but he headed straight at goalkeeper Ben Foster.

Moments later, Thomas did well to intercept a pass from Roger Johnson but Blues got back well to crowd him out on the edge of the box.

But much of the opening half-hour was scrappy, with both teams struggling to convert useful possession in midfield into clear chances.

Blues had a half-chance when Cameron Jerome cut in from the left flank and tried his luck from the edge of the box, but his deflected shot ran straight through to Scott Carson in the Albion goal.

Ten minutes before the break, a fine crossfield pass from Brunt released Thomas on the left and the winger skipped towards goal but his pass, intended for the unmarked James Morrison, was cut out by Liam Ridgewell.

Jerome then headed just wide from a cross by Beausejour.

But the first-half ended goalless with neither goalkeeper having been called upon to make a save.

However, the game came to life early in the second-half with a goal at each end and a trio of bookings.

First Albion took the lead as half-time substitute Peter Odemwingie made the most of a lucky break off Keith Fahey to poke a pass through for Mulumbu to finish.

But within a minute the hosts were level, as Albion afforded too much room on the right flank for Lee Bowyer to cross and Beausejour crept in to divert the cross past Carson.

Bowyer was then yellow-carded for a tug on Mulumbu and was followed into the book by Albion's Paul Scharner and Ridgewell for a bizarre grapple on the floor.

Albion restored their lead just before the hour mark courtesy of Morrison's moment of inspiration.

The midfielder received a clever ball inside from Steven Reid and chipped the ball past former Baggies defender Curtis Davies on the edge of the box before lashing a left-footed shot into past Foster.

The visitors should have made sure of the victory on 68 minutes when Brunt whacked a right-footed shot against the base of the post and Odemwingie was left with the goal at his mercy from the rebound, but somehow fired over.

However, the third goal finally arrived four minutes later when Blues switched off as Albion took a short corner, Morrison's cross to the far post was met by Scharner and his header was correctly adjudged to have crossed the line by a fraction.

From then Albion added defensive substitutes to shore up their side and prevented Blues threatening Carson.