7 Feb 2011

Birmingham climb out of relegation zone with win

5:40 am on 7 February 2011

Nikola Zigic scored the only goal as Birmingham City beat West Ham United 1-nil to move out of the Premier League football's bottom three.

The giant Serbian striker headed home from close range after 65 minutes to earn three precious points in a relegation scrap involving the entire bottom half of the table.

Defeat meant West Ham returned to the foot of the table with 24 points from 26 games, below Wolverhampton Wanderers on goal difference after Wolves beat leaders Manchester United on Sunday,

Wigan Athletic complete the bottom three with 26 points while West Bromwich Albion, who parted company with manager Roberto Di Matteo on the weekend, are just above the drop zone thanks to a marginally better goal difference.

Birmingham have 27 points but have at least one game in hand of all the teams struggling to avoid the drop.