Sunderland out of drop zone

The 27-year-old Sweden international scored once, had another disallowed and was then denied at the death by City goalkeeper Maik Taylor in a stunning cameo at the Stadium of Light.

His 66th-minute strike, a deft finish as he capitalised on an error by defender Liam Ridgewell, ultimately secured the points after Daryl Murphy had put the home side ahead with a close-range 15th-minute finish.

City had briefly threatened to drag themselves back into the game when Cameron Jerome forced an excellent 39th-minute save from goalkeeper Craig Gordon, but in truth, the Blues left the north-east with exactly what they merited after being out-played for much of the game.

The victory took the Black Cats on to 23 points for the season, still significantly short of what they will need to survive, but successive home league wins over Bolton, Portsmouth and now Birmingham have increased belief that they can avoid the drop.

It was £6million striker Kenwyne Jones who once again led by example as he put central defenders Liam Ridgewell and Rafael Schmitz to the sternest of tests.

His reward for his early exertions was to create the opener, climbing high above the Birmingham defence to head down new-boy Phil Bardsley's deep free-kick, where the waiting Murphy smashed his shot past Taylor as two Blues defenders watched on like statues.

The clinching goal came after Ridgewell failed to put enough on a header back to Taylor and Prica could scarcely believe his fortune and he raced in to lift the ball over the goalkeeper and announce his arrival in style.