Birmingham City 2 Wolves 1: Kevin Phillips Leads Blues To Comeback Win

Kevin Phillips inspires hatred and trepidation in equal measures for supporters of Wolverhampton Wanderers and he demonstrated exactly why in putting a dampener on Mick McCarthy's 51st birthday celebrations.

Phillips single-handedly deprived Wolves of a crack at the Premier League in 2006-07 with four goals in as many appearances including both play-off semi-final games in that Championship season for West Brom and he was the scourge of McCarthy's team again.

The 35-year-old was only introduced as a 63rd-minute substitute with Alex McLeish's side trailing to Kevin Doyle's sixth goal of the season, but two goals in six minutes turned the game on its head and prevented Birmingham losing their first home game for over four months.

Phillips tapped in from close range, after fellow sub Craig Gardner headed back across goal and then chested down Stephen Carr's cross before sending a searing volley beyond Marcus Hahnemann to leave Wolves sick and deep in relegation trouble.

REACTION:
McLeish promised Phillips more action after the transfer window closed on Monday, with no new strikers arriving at St Andrew's.

The Scot only wishes he could bottle the instincts the 36-year-old striker possesses and pass on his remarkable skills to his other strikers.

Whether Phillips continues beyond the end of this season, when his contract expires, remains to be seen, but from now until May, Phillips will be seeing more action.

And he may even have won himself only his second start of the season against West Ham on Wednesday night, because Christian Benitez is injured.

Benitez was stretchered off with an ankle injury and his replacement, Phillips, changed the course of the match in a cameo performance.

"It is all the hallmarks of a genius. I keep asking him to tell me what the secret is so I can teach all my other strikers," said McLeish.

"It has been hard for me to walk past him in the corridors and to keep telling him to keep his chin up. If felt a little bit patronising, but I had a chat with him after the window closed and told him that he would be seeing more game time.

"He has had a spring in his step ever since and I knew he had a good record against Wolves and that I had a potent weapon to use and it came off.

"We looked really flat, which is not like us and we needed some inspiration and he gave it to us."

Benitez will have scans on his ankle on Monday, following a collision with Hahnemann while McCarthy has to try to pick up his shell-shocked players to face Tottenham on Wednesday.

Wolves have failed to win in in six league games and remain one off the bottom of the Premier League table, with people willing to relegate them already.

"Football is really cruel at times. It is a great game, but a cruel one. It is fair to say that we did not deserve that. The issue now is with morale. I have not been in our dressing room as low as that," said McCarthy.

"We have been written off before this season and we will be written off again. I can't do much about that. If we show that same kind of spirit then it would be remiss of people to do that to us."

HOW IT HAPPENED:
Birmingham looked short of inspiration and ideas and were heading for defeat, until the arrival of the evergreen Phillips. His spatial awareness, ability to lose defenders and his sixth sense for when a chance is going to present itself remains razor-sharp. Ten minutes from the end, Wolves were getting nervy, but seemingly on course for a rare victory that would have lifted them five places and out of the relegation zone. Blink once and Phillips had reduced the points to a share of them. Blink twice and he had snatched all three. Wolves did not deserve it, but they have spent much of the season suffering in a similar fashion.

WHAT IT MEANS:
Birmingham need one more victory to take them to the magic 40-point mark, the accepted safety line for clubs looking to avoid relegation, which is an amazing achievement with 14 games remaining at a club that was deemed relegation certainties in August. Those could come against West Ham in midweek such is the confidence at St Andrew's. It is hard to be so optimistic for Wolves, despite McCarthy's obdurate response to his critics who are already predicting an immediate return to the Championship. Raising morale after this injustice will be a huge task.

QUOTABLE:
"He will lose all his hair and his teeth and his legs will go, but he will never lose that ability to score."
- McLeish on the powers of Phillips in front of goal

BIRMINGHAM CITY 1 (Phillips 79, 85), WOLVES 1 (Doyle 42)

PLAYER MARKING:
Birmingham City (4-4-2): Hart 6, Carr 6, Johnson 6, Dann 7, Ridgewell 6; Larsson 6 (Gardner 68,6), Ferguson 7, Bowyer 6, McFadden 5 (Fahey 75, 5); Jerome 5, Benitez 6 (Phillips 63, 8).
Subs (not used): Taylor, Michel, Jervis, Vignal.

Wolves (4-5-1): Hahnemann 7, Zubar 7, Craddock 6, Berra 6, Ward 5; Foley 6 (Ebanks-Blake 78, 5), Jones 6 (Guedioura 68, 5), Mancienne 7, Henry 6, Jarvis 6 (Surman 87,5); Doyle 8.
Subs (not used): Hennessey, Elokobi, Vokes, Mujangi Bia.

ATTENDANCE: 24,165

NEXT UP:
- Birmingham v West Ham (Away) Premier League, Wednesday 10/02, 1945 GMT
- Wolves v Tottenham (Home) Premier League, Wednesday 10/02 1945 GMT


MAN OF THE MATCH:
Kevin Phillips (Birmingham City): Ironically Phillips would probably been allowed to leave St Andrew's on loan, if Alex McLeish had succeeded in his pursuit of Roman Pavlyuchenko or Kenwyne Jones. Birmingham's inability to conclude a deal for either of their January transfer targets proved to be the undoing of McCarthy. Phillips's legs may not be young enough to carry him for 90 minutes in the Premier League these days, but they are good enough for half an hour which is how long it took the substitute to wreak havoc. He had not appeared in the league for two months, but showed class is permanent with his two goals. His striker's instinct is sharper than that of any of his rivals at the club and McLeish must wish he was ten years younger.