PHILLIPS TURNS THE SCREW ON WOLVES

KEVIN PHILLIPS almost left Birmingham on deadline day as Middlesbrough tried to sign the veteran striker.

Alex McLeish pulled out all the stops to try and bring a new striker to St Andrew's and admits he eventually thought: 'Hang on a minute, I've already got Kevin Phillips why do I need somebody else?'

Well, the former Sunderland striker proved that he has lost none of his predatory instincts despite a lack of action for the Midlanders this term.

With Wolves comfortably holding onto their first-half lead, secured through the ever-willing Kevin Doyle, the introduction of Phillips and new boy Craig Gardner did the trick for McLeish.

Two goals in five minutes was the perfect illustration that there's life in the old dog yet.

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy was Sunderland manager when Phillips was sold to Southampton and he could only look on as the 36-year-old left his present side languishing in 19th place in the table.

Birmingham started on the front foot with Michael Mancienne making a great block to deny Cameron Jerome.

The derby was pretty one-sided with Marcus Hahnemann keeping out Jerome twice and fisting out a dangerous Sebastian Larsson corner before seeing Scott Dann hit the loose ball wide.

Wolves gradually came into the game with David Jones off target with an ambitious free-kick attempt and Ronald Zubar heading wastefully wide from a Matt Jarvis set-piece.

The deadlock was broken three minutes before half time when a menacing build-up, prompted by Zubar's charge down the right, eventually yielded a goal. Jones had a shot blocked but the ball broke to Karl Henry, who calmly fed Jarvis on the left. The teasing centre from Jarvis was kicked against his own post by Roger Johnson and Doyle reacted quickest to stab past Joe Hart.

There was still time for Liam Ridgewell to have a penalty appeal turned down after a push by Zubar but the hosts trailed at the break and looked short on ideas.

Doyle worked tirelessly on his own in the Wolves attack and dragged a shot into the side-netting after beating Johnson and Stephen Carr in one run.

Although Phillips and Gardner were thrown on, it looked as though another substitute would have the biggest impact.

DOYLE: Opened the scoring

Adiene Guedioura had already forced Hart into a save with his first involvement when he whistled a superb attempt just over the top of the bar from long range.

Hahnemann was almost caught out when Jerome got a touch to a dangerous Gardner cross before Phillips turned the match on its head.

With 10 minutes remaining, another sub, Keith Fahey, produced a moment of clarity by standing a chip above the crowded area and towards the back post, where Blues had a man over. Gardner sensibly nodded it back and Phillips tucked home his second league goal of the season.

Five minutes later, two players rolled back the years to combine for the winner.

Carr was excellent throughout and his penetrative run went largely unchecked to allow him to pick out Phillips inside the box. The cross was controlled on the chest in an instant and despatched with expert precision by the veteran marksman.

It was enough to make McLeish consider his options after picking an unchanged side for the 12th successive match.

The largely ineffective 'Chucho' Benitez has Phillips piling on the pressure for a starting spot.

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