Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp promised to take Jermain Defoe to Wembley with the squad after he scored twice in the 4-2 win over Birmingham.Defoe is cup-tied for Pompey's FA Cup semi-final against West Brom so will miss his second trip to Wembley this season after leaving Tottenham before their Carling Cup final success.

Redknapp said: "Jermain is a natural goalscorer who will get 18-20 a season. He's done it again for us.

"He was the first to text me with congratulations after we'd beaten Manchester United on Saturday. That shows the team spirit we have in the camp.

"This will be the second Wembley match he has missed but, yes, of course we will be taking Jermain to Wembley with us - hopefully twice."

Defoe scored twice in the first nine minutes, including a penalty, as hosts Pompey looked to be continuing the celebrations following their stunning success over United in the cup quarter-finals.

But Birmingham pegged them back and were level by half-time thanks to strikes from Fabrice Muamba and Sebastian Larsson.

It took a Hermann Hreidarsson effort to get Pompey back on track and Kanu wrapped up the win late on.

Centre-back Sylvain Distin was caught out for Birmingham's first goal and Redknapp said: "He's been with his wife all day at the hospital where she's expecting and it looked as though his concentration suffered in the game. I just hope the baby is not born on semi-final day.

"But it was nice to get four goals at home because we haven't got many here since the seven against Reading.

"I'm told we're seventh in the table now and it's going to be a tough scrap for the European places.

"Credit to Birmingham for coming back from two down because it looked like four, five or six we could get at that point.

"It was a good game to win and the atmosphere out there was great."

It was relegation-threatened Birmingham's first defeat in five games and leaves them facing Newcastle in a critical clash next Monday.

Alex McLeish said: "That's going to be a big game, nothing less now than it was ever going to be.

"It would be a big boost to win it and we've got a lot of plusses coming out of this game. We really went for it after coming back from two down in the first few minutes.

"There was a penalty against us and I didn't think it was justified. It's so often down to to individual interpretation by the official when the ball strikes a player's arm but it's heart-breaking when it goes against you as with David Murphy.

"I'm delighted though by the spirit we showed. We had a right go in the second half but got caught short at the back for the fourth goal chasing the game.

"James made a great save from Cameron Jerome after he came on and if we'd scored then at 3-2 I think we would have taken something."

McLeish revealed that £5million striker James McFadden was left on the bench for the first hour because he was in hospital with his wife most of last night before she gave birth to a daughter.

Argentinian Mauro Zarate made his first start but was taken off in the second half.

McLeish said: "He did OK. He's only 20 and we shouldn't expect miracles from him."

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