Queen's Park Rangers 0 Birmingham City 2: Jerome strike puts Birmingham top

Birmingham City were deservedly beaten by Cardiff City in late August but Steve Bruce's Blues reclaimed first place in the Championship from the Welsh side with this straightforward victory. In contrast, Queen's Park Rangers now lie one off the bottom, having won only once this season.

That Birmingham achieved victory despite playing with 10 men for the last 13 minutes showed up the west Londoners' deficiencies in even greater relief and emphasised Birmingham's credentials as the division's front-runners.

After relegation from the Premiership, the Midlanders are showing no signs yet of a sophomore slump.

Both teams here displayed a laudable insistence on playing - or attempting to play - a neat, short-passing game but it was still somehow inevitable that when the first goal came it was not from a one-two around the penalty area.

Nicklas Bendtner, the Danish striker on loan from Arsenal, was the recipient of the red card but when he was on the pitch he was involved and was brought down after 24 minutes. From the ensuing free-kick 35 yards out, taken by Gary McSheffrey, the midfielder drifted the ball in behind the home defence. Bruno N'Gotty, the central defender signed in the summer from Bolton, has certainly scored harder goals than the one he headed in from eight yards out.

QPR were slow to react. It was not unexpected that they should concede the advantage to one of the favourites for automatic promotion but Loftus Road can still play a part in stirring its struggling inhabitants. However, the atmosphere was more muted than usual in this part of west London and would have been quieter still had McSheffrey's weaving run and shot seen a second goal just before the break.

However, Bruce's men were given a warning 10 minutes after the interval when Egutu Oliseh, brother of the former Juventus midfielder and Nigeria captain, Sunday Oliseh, saw his shot deflected wide off Rahdi Jaidi.

DJ Campbell's shot 10 minutes after that, which hit the post and ran across the line, was proof the Blues were not sitting back. Bendtner's dismissal for two yellow cards within 60 seconds gave QPR a glimmer of hope which finally disappeared in injury time when Matthew Rose failed to deal with a high clearance.

Cameron Jerome still had his back to goal and plenty to do but swiftly turned and lobbed Paul Jones with an expertly judged shot, leaving Eric Black, Bruce's assistant, to say: "It's nice to be where we are [top] and the players deserve enormous credit for the work they've put in."

QPR's manager, Gary Waddock, stayed upbeat. He said: "I felt we put in a reasonable performance but two mistakes cost us dearly."

Queen's Park Rangers (4-4-2): P Jones, Rose, Stewart, Rehman (Baidoo, 75), Milanese; Oliseh, Bircham, Ward, Cook; Nygaard, Blackstock (R Jones, h-t). Substitutes not used: Cole (gk), Bailey, Kanyuka.

Birmingham City (4-4-2): Maik Taylor, Johnson, Jaidi, N'Gotty, Larsson; Danns, Muamba, Dunn (Kilkenny, 77), McSheffrey; Bendtner, Campbell (Jerome, 71). Substitutes not used: Doyle (gk), Martin Taylor, Forssell.

Referee: P Melin (Surrey).