Birmingham remain three points behind Championship leaders Wolves after Lee Carsley's solitary strike secured victory over a dominant Plymouth.

The home side wasted a number of chances with Paul Gallagher, Marcel Seip and Krisztian Timar going close.

But against the run of play, Carsley put Birmingham ahead with a rasping drive from outside the box.

Simon Walton's fierce effort forced Maik Taylor into a fine save and, late on, Rory Fallon missed a great chance.

Plymouth boss Paul Sturrock:
"If there is a good way of losing then we have just played 90 minutes how you'd like it to happen.

"I am gutted for the players, but I am proud of every one of them. They gave everything they had and they played to the shape and the style we wanted.

"If we keep performing like that on a regular basis, we are going to win a lot more than we will lose."

"We have come away with three points but we had to grind it out. We didn't have much in the first half, and we toiled a bit after half-time as well.

"We were always dangerous with speed up front and we got that breakthrough, a great strike from Lee Carsley."

Plymouth: Larrieu, Clark, Timar, Seip, Barker, Mackie, Summerfield (MacLean 90), Walton, Paterson (Noone 73), Gallagher, Fallon.
Subs Not Used: Folly, Cathcart, Marin.

Booked: Fallon.

Birmingham: Maik Taylor, Hunt, Jaidi, Martin Taylor, Queudrue (Agustien 48), Parnaby, Quashie, Carsley, Owusu-Abeyie, Bent, Phillips (Jerome 67).
Subs Not Used: Doyle, Nafti, Johnson.

Goals: Carsley 62.

Att: 10,446

Ref: Kevin Wright (Cambridgeshire).

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