Birmingham 0 West Ham 1

The first half was a pretty scrappy affair with West Ham shading possession and efforts on goal.

West Ham's best effort was from a 24th minute thirty yard Mark Noble free-kick which just clipped the left hand post as it went wide low down. Noble also created a nice chance for himself on the edge of the area when he flicked the ball with his right foot over a defender and then volleyed with his left, but the ball flew wide.

Jonathon Spector tried on a number of occasions to hand the game on a plate to Birmingham but they failed to capitalise on their twelfth man. If Paintsil is a worse player than Spector you have to question why he wasn't sold in the summer.

The last action from the half came from a Birmingham free kick that led to a right-footed shot by Radhi Jaidi from the centre of the penalty area 12 yards out which was saved by Robert Green.

West Ham had the better of most of the second half. After 66 minutes Zamora created a good chance for himself when he turned and shot but put the ball wide. Two minutes later Zamora had another chance which he also shot wide.

In the 70th minute Craig Bellamy tried to round Doyle in the Birmingham goal and the keeper brought him down. Noble scored from the resultant penalty.

Birmingham applied a little pressure late on whilst never really looking like scoring.