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Birmingham City blew the chance to seal automatic promotion to the Premier League after they crashed to a 2-1 home defeat to Preston North End in the penultimate game of the Championship.

Alex McLeish men lie second in the standings and would have gone up with a victory at St Andrews but are now just one point ahead of third-placed Sheffield United.

The Blues led through Keith Fahey's header on the hour mark but spectacular strikes from Paul McKenna and Ross Wallace gave North End a win that keeps them two points behind the play-offs with one match to play.

Wallace's winner was a brilliant 30-yard free-kick but his copybook was blotted with a sending off immediately afterwards, picking up a second yellow card for taking his shirt off in celebration.

The dismissal meant that Alan Irvine's side ended the match with nine men after Lee Williamson was harshly shown a straight red on 68 minutes following a grapple with Blues midfielder Lee Bowyer, who was rightly sent off as the aggressor.

A tense first half saw Preston go the closest, with Jamaica midfielder Williamson hitting the post and Neil Mellor firing into the side netting with the follow up.

Birmingham had their chances though, with Billy Jones heading Garry O'Connor's shot off the line after North End keeper Andy Lonergan went walkabout.

Blues also had a goal disallowed when Franck Queudrue palmed the ball past Andy Lonergan in the style of Diego Maradona, an offence for which the Frenchman was booked.

It was goalless at the break and, seven minutes after the restart, Preston missed a great chance to open the scoring but Sean St Ledger somehow headed over from McKenna's cross after a quickly-taken free-kick.

The hosts got off the mark when James McFadden cut inside from the right wing and sent a glorious cross to Irishman Fahey, who made no mistake with a close-range header.

Then came the double sending off when Bowyer fouled Williamson, dragged the Jamaica international to the ground and attempted to wrestle him before the pair stood up and went head-to-head.

While Bowyer deserved to walk for instigating and continuing the ruckus, Williamson did nothing more than stand his ground and at worst should have been booked.

Predictably the game opened up and visiting skipper McKenna levelled with a superb shot from 30 yards that swerved wickedly before nestling in the right-hand side of Maik Taylor's goal.

Blues substitute Cameron Jerome spurned a gilt-edged opportunity to put his side ahead again when he somehow fired over after latching on to Sebastian Larsson's header.

He was one-on-one with Lonergan and on the edge of the six-yard bow: it was easier to score and almost impossible not to hit the target yet the ex-Cardiff man slipped at the last and spooned the finish.

It was another turning point in a thrilling encounter which Preston went on to win with another goal of the highest quality.

With one minute of normal time remaining, they won a free-kick 30 yards out which Scotsman Wallace sent-left footed, over the wall, dipping and curling past Taylor.

It put North End right back in the promotion mix, a win behind sixth-placed Burnley.

They face Queens Park Rangers on the final day of the season, while Birmingham have a tough ask to beat Reading away and Blades have a similarly daunting proposal of a trip to former boss Neil Warnock's Crystal Palace.

Reda Maher / Eurosport