Birmingham dramatically snatched all three points against Portsmouth as a 90th minute penalty gave them a 1-0 win at St Andrews.

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The match had looked like it was heading towards a goalless draw when Pompey keeper David James barged into Sebastian Larsson with only seconds remaining and referee Lee Probert pointed to the spot.

Birmingham forward James McFadden was the man entrusted with the responsibility of scoring his side's first goal of the campaign and he make no mistake from 12 yards to send the Blues fans into raptures.

The best chance of a lacklustre opening 45 minutes fell to the home side with 18 minutes on the clock.

Gregory Vignal made good progress down the left and after his cross had narrowly evaded the attentions of Cameron Jerome, it fell to Sebastian Larsson, but the midfielder was unable to direct his headed effort on target and it flew over the bar.

Neither side were able to retain possession for long enough to carve out any further real opportunities in the opening period other than a couple of long range efforts from the visitors.

Niko Kranjcar and Frederic Piquionne both made Joe Hart in the Birmingham goal work, but in truth each were routine saves for the on-loan Manchester City keeper.

Portsmouth's endeavours were hampered somewhat when midfielder Papa Bouba Diop limped off towards the end of the half with a nasty looking injury that led to him being taken away in a wheelchair.

The second half fared little better in terms of entertainment until Hayden Mullins had a chance to open the scoring for the visitors with 58 minutes on the clock.

A right wing cross evaded everybody in the penalty area bar Mullins who, seemingly surprised that he was in possession and unmarked in front of goal, scuffed his effort wide.

Twenty minutes later Birmingham substitute Kevin Phillips forced James into a diving save with a snapshot from a Gary O'Connor knockdown and that appeared to be the final action of the evening until the intervention of James, who will probably claim that his eyes were singularly on the ball.

Even after the goal Pompey had two opportunities to equalise, first through Niko Kranjcar who missed when well positioned and then through John Utaka, whose strike from the edge of the penalty area flew narrowly over the bar.