Birmingham City 1-2 Leeds United

Stuart Dallas doubled his tally for the season with a goal in each half at St Andrew's.

Birmingham City's slim Championship play-off hopes faded even further as a goal in each half from Stuart Dallas earned Leeds United victory.

He fired in from the edge of the box on 11 minutes before doing the same from slightly further out with another low, right-foot shot on 53 minutes.

Blues top scorer Clayton Donaldson pulled a goal back three minutes later.

But that was all they could manage against a side reduced to 10 men in injury time when Alex Mowatt saw red.

Birmingham, who remain nine points adrift of sixth-placed Sheffield Wednesday, had failed to win in five games prior to Saturday's victory at Reading.

That weekend win had suddenly rekindled play-off hopes and Blues began the night knowing that they had the chance to reduce the gap to six points.

Their task was made a whole lot harder when Dallas fired the first of his two goals into the bottom left corner.

But his second proved the killer blow, despite the home side pulling one back within three minutes.

Donaldson hooked home his ninth goal of the season after Leeds keeper Marco Silvestri did well to keep out David Cotterill's powerful shot.

That gave Blues more than half an hour to level but substitute Diego Fabbrini's wild shot over the bar from six yards was the closest they came to an equaliser.

Mowatt's red card for a late tackle on Ryan Shotton came too late to matter, as Blues slumped to only a second home defeat in 12 games.

Birmingham manager Gary Rowett: "There was a little chance (of the play-offs) but the main emphasis was for us to win games - particularly this one as it was our game in hand.

"The first half was poor and as disjointed on the ball as we have looked all season. In the second half we livened up and we started to play the way I know we can and we dominated the whole half.

"When we are at it we are a match for everyone. If we drop away by 5-10%, we are just ok."

Leeds head coach Steve Evans: "We will appeal the sending-off. He slid in with his feet on the floor and it is a yellow card at best.

"But I would prefer to concentrate more on our performance which was very, very good.

"All the offensive players in the first half caused problems. The disappointing thing was that it was only 1-0 at half-time and not more."

• Line-ups
• Match Stats
• Live Text

Line-ups

Birmingham

• 1Legzdins
• 31Caddis
• 28Morrison
• 32Shotton
• 3Grounds
• 6Kieftenbeld
• 8GleesonSubstituted forToralat 61'minutes
• 11CotterillSubstituted forFabbriniat 76'minutes
• 26Davis
• 9Donaldson
• 25LaffertyBooked at 89mins

Substitutes

• 7Fabbrini
• 15Vaughan
• 17Solomon-Otabor
• 19Maghoma
• 20Toral
• 23Spector
• 29Kuszczak

Leeds

• 1Silvestri
• 28BerardiBooked at 32mins
• 3BambaBooked at 90mins
• 6Cooper
• 21Taylor
• 15DallasSubstituted forCarayolat 83'minutes
• 8MurphySubstituted forBellusciat 88'minutes
• 16Diagouraga
• 23L Cook
• 7AntenucciSubstituted forMowattat 69'minutesBooked at 90mins
• 9Wood

Substitutes

• 5Bellusci
• 10Mowatt
• 18Carayol
• 24Adeyemi
• 27Phillips
• 31Coyle
• 45Peacock-Farrell

Referee:

Chris Kavanagh

Attendance:

16,081

Match Stats

Home TeamBirminghamAway TeamLeeds

Possession

Home55%

Away45%

Shots

Home12

Away11

Shots on Target

Home8

Away3

Corners

Home9

Away5

Fouls

Home11

Away9

Live Text

Posted at

Match ends, Birmingham City 1, Leeds United 2.

Full Time

Posted at 90'+6'

Second Half ends, Birmingham City 1, Leeds United 2.

Dismissal

Posted at 90'+4'

Alex Mowatt (Leeds United) is shown the red card.

Posted at 90'+4'

Ryan Shotton (Birmingham City) wins a free kick on the right wing.

Posted at 90'+4'

Foul by Alex Mowatt (Leeds United).

Posted at 90'+3'

Hand ball by Maikel Kieftenbeld (Birmingham City).

Posted at 90'+2'

Attempt saved. Clayton Donaldson (Birmingham City) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Jon-Miquel Toral with a through ball.

Posted at 90'+2'

Attempt missed. Kyle Lafferty (Birmingham City) right footed shot from outside the box is too high from a direct free kick.

Booking

Posted at 90'+1'

Sol Bamba (Leeds United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 90'+1'

Clayton Donaldson (Birmingham City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 90'+1'

Foul by Sol Bamba (Leeds United).

Booking

Posted at 89'

Kyle Lafferty (Birmingham City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 89'

Foul by Kyle Lafferty (Birmingham City).

Posted at 89'

Mustapha Carayol (Leeds United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 89'

Diego Fabbrini (Birmingham City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 89'

Foul by Giuseppe Bellusci (Leeds United).

Substitution

Posted at 88'

Substitution, Leeds United. Giuseppe Bellusci replaces Luke Murphy.

Posted at 86'

Corner, Birmingham City. Conceded by Charlie Taylor.

Substitution

Posted at 83'

Substitution, Leeds United. Mustapha Carayol replaces Stuart Dallas because of an injury.

Posted at 82'

Delay over. They are ready to continue.

Posted at 81'

Delay in match Stuart Dallas (Leeds United) because of an injury.

Posted at 81'

Attempt missed. Alex Mowatt (Leeds United) left footed shot from the left side of the box is too high. Assisted by Lewis Cook.

Posted at 80'

Attempt missed. Diego Fabbrini (Birmingham City) right footed shot from the centre of the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Kyle Lafferty.

Posted at 79'

Attempt saved. Diego Fabbrini (Birmingham City) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by David Davis.

Posted at 78'

Clayton Donaldson (Birmingham City) wins a free kick on the left wing.

Posted at 78'

Foul by Gaetano Berardi (Leeds United).

Substitution

Posted at 76'

Substitution, Birmingham City. Diego Fabbrini replaces David Cotterill.

Posted at 75'

Offside, Birmingham City. David Davis tries a through ball, but Clayton Donaldson is caught offside.

Posted at 74'

Corner, Leeds United. Conceded by Michael Morrison.

Posted at 73'

Attempt saved. Kyle Lafferty (Birmingham City) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.

Posted at 73'

Attempt saved. Kyle Lafferty (Birmingham City) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Jon-Miquel Toral.

Posted at 70'

Lewis Cook (Leeds United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 70'

Foul by David Davis (Birmingham City).

Substitution

Posted at 69'

Substitution, Leeds United. Alex Mowatt replaces Mirco Antenucci.

Posted at 68'

Corner, Birmingham City. Conceded by Lewis Cook.

Posted at 67'

Attempt missed. Jonathan Grounds (Birmingham City) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by David Cotterill with a cross following a corner.

Posted at 67'

Corner, Birmingham City. Conceded by Charlie Taylor.

Posted at 62'

Corner, Birmingham City. Conceded by Sol Bamba.

Substitution

Posted at 61'

Substitution, Birmingham City. Jon-Miquel Toral replaces Stephen Gleeson.

Posted at 61'

Offside, Birmingham City. Kyle Lafferty tries a through ball, but Clayton Donaldson is caught offside.

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