Birmingham City overcame obdurate 10-man Leicester City to record only their second home win over the Foxes since 1985 and continue their Championship play-off push.

Leicester, playing their first match since their six-point deduction for breaking spending rules, frustrated Birmingham and Abdul Fatawu cancelled out Ibrahim Osman's first-half opener.

The Foxes dug in after having Bobby De Cordova-Reid sent off on 32 minutes and their 10 men defended heroically.

But their resolve was finally broken when Birmingham's leading scorer Jay Stansfield scored his 10th goal of the season to lift Chris Davies' side up to 10th - just two points off the play-off places.

Birmingham, who made six new signings in the winter transfer window, have now taken 14 points from their past six matches as they target a top-six finish.

In contrast, the Foxes, who have no permanent manager to add to their many problems, remain above the drop zone on goal difference only after taking a paltry point from their past five games.

The hosts made a flying start and Osman gave them the lead inside three minutes when he robbed Ricardo Pereira and squeezed the ball past recalled Leicester goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.

But Leicester refused to lie down and Birmingham goalkeeper James Beadle made a smart save to deny De Cordova-Reid.

Birmingham did not heed the warning and Foxes top scorer Fatawu levelled on 21 minutes with his seventh of the season. Paik Seung-Ho's headed clearance fell to Fatawu who controlled the ball before lashing home on the half-volley.

But the Foxes were down to 10 men when De Cordova-Reid was sent off for a dangerous studs-up challenge, which caught Osman on the ankle. It was the second successive game they have had a player dismissed in the first half.

Birmingham piled on the pressure, amassing 22 shots, including six on target. Osman and Marvin Ducksch both missed, while Begovic denied Paik and Jhon Solis.

But the Foxes were finally beaten in the 67th minute when Ducksch found Stansfield with a slide-rule pass and he produced an excellent, angled finish to end his 13-game barren run.

Birmingham boss Chris Davies told BBC Radio WM:

"I think we got off to a great start. Ossie's [Osman] press and finish got us going and we looked really bright at the start of the game, one-up.

"I was frustrated with their goal. It was a really nice finish from the winger, but we're frustrated we let that cross come in and then we didn't deal with the second phase.

"It was a definite red card and from then on, like I said to the players, it's really a mental game when it's 10 v 11 because you can get so frustrated and you can think it's going to be easy.

"In the end, the goal we got was an eye-of-the-needle pass from Marvin Ducksch, but we made them run and opened spaces that we exploited."

Leicester caretaker manager Andy King told BBC Radio Leicester.

"We need to stop giving ourselves mountains to climb early in games. That's two games now where we've made it really, really difficult for ourselves.

"We came into the game feeling good, we had the game plan, we're all set and then we give ourselves a mountain to climb. We did that twice today.

"I thought the response from going behind really early was really good. I thought we worked our way into the game, got the goal back and we're thinking, 'right, here we go. This is a chance to show ourselves'.

"But then again we shoot ourselves in the foot, so, yeah, I'm disappointed.

"I thought the 10 who tried to come together as a team were good. I thought the way we responded from the first goal was good, but ultimately it's about points on the board and we didn't get them today."