Birmingham City 3-0 Preston North End: Declan Rudd error sets Blues on course for win

Birmingham City ended Preston's nine-game Championship unbeaten run as Declan Rudd's error set Garry Monk's side on the way all three points.

The North End keeper completely misjudged Maikel Kieftenbeld's overhit pass for Che Adams early in the second half and allowed the ball to dribble between his legs and into the net.

Jacques Maghoma added a second for Blues when he brought the ball down on his chest and fired into the bottom corner.

Adams sealed the win for Birmingham when he cut inside and slotted home on the counter attack.

Victory extended Birmingham's unbeaten run at St Andrew's to 15 games and lifted them to ninth in the table.

Preston, without top scorer Callum Robinson for at least three months because of a hamstring injury which will require surgery, arrived in Birmingham having lost just one of their previous 14 meetings with Blues.

And they went closest to scoring in the first half when Louis Moult's acrobatic overhead kick was tipped away by home keeper Lee Camp.

Darnell Fisher was also denied by Camp, although Lukas Jutkiewicz twice went close for the hosts, first heading wide before firing narrowly off target on the turn.

But Blues dominated after the break as Rudd also pulled off a fine diving save to keep out Gary Gardner's drive, while Harlee Dean headed just over the bar from a corner.

Preston manager Alex Neil speaking to BBC Radio Lancashire:

"I don't really need to say much to Declan. I thought that really affected the match. You could hear the fans talking about it for the next 10 minutes.

"Birmingham have not lost a home game all season. They're really disciplined. They don't come out to try and press the ball, and when they do get it, they get it up to Lukas Jutkiewicz and work around him. Teams like Swansea and West Brom- really good football teams who build and try to play through you- have come here and found it really difficult.

"It was a bad day at the office for us. The disappointing thing was that, towards the end of the game, we looked as if we didn't have the belief to get back into the game."

Birmingham City manager Garry Monk:

"[Promotion] is totally not in our thinking at all. We deal with reality. Everyone understands what we have been working under this season. This club have been facing relegation on the last day in three out of the last five years. We want to show progression. That is all we are focused on.

"We don't have a magic wand. We are fighting and trying to be better than what we have been before. Everyone is on the same page. If it takes us somewhere, great.

"It has been the perfect response to losing the derby and you cannot ask for anything more than what we have done. We are proud of our record at St Andrew's and we will fight hard to maintain that."