Birmingham City 0-8 Bournemouth

Blues are second from bottom in the Championship after a humiliating home defeat

Managerless Birmingham City suffered a record home defeat as Bournemouth scored eight goals at St Andrew's.

Brett Pitman put the visitors ahead inside three minutes before Blues defender David Edgar was then sent off for a foul on Callum Wilson.

Wilson and Matt Ritchie made it 3-0 by half-time before the Cherries ran riot in the second period.

Marc Pugh netted a hat-trick and two more from Tokelo Rantie, the first a penalty, completed Birmingham's misery.

In addition, Paul Caddis had a spot-kick saved by Bournemouth goalkeeper Artur Boruc with the score at 3-0.

A week after south coast neighbours Southampton put eight past Sunderland, Eddie Howe's side repeated the feat to register a fourth straight Championship win, a result that lifted them up to fourth in the table.

Blues slip to second from bottom after a wretched afternoon, extending their poor run at St Andrew's to just one win in 25 home matches.

And the nature of their second-half capitulation will be of huge concern to whoever Blues appoint to succeed the sacked Lee Clark as their new manager.

Pitman gave Bournemouth the perfect start, running through unchallenged before beating goalkeeper Darren Randolph, and things got worse for the hosts when Edgar pulled back Wilson and was deemed to be the last defender, resulting in a straight red card for the Canada international.

Pitman missed two further chances before the lead was eventually doubled, as Randolph's attempted clearance fell nicely for Wilson to race clear and net his 10th goal of the season.

Ritchie scored a third to settle the contest before the break, firing in a loose ball after another defensive mix-up, but Bournemouth were hungry for more goals.

Caddis's failure from the spot, following Tommy Elphick's foul on Clayton Donaldson, summed up Birmingham's day and it was to get much worse for the home side, who conceded five goals in the final 27 minutes.

Pugh turned in two crosses from Simon Francis to make it 5-0, before Rantie's brace and Pugh's third sealed a momentous win.

Birmingham City caretaker manager Malcolm Crosby told BBC WM:

"I feel shellshocked. The way we played was embarrassing. I have to take the blame because I picked the team.

"The confidence drained out of the players. They have played badly because we let in eight goals. But those players have got to go out again next week and have to get over this setback. It has been a terrible day.

"I apologise to the supporters. Whoever comes in as manager, I do not think he will have another performance like that."

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe:

"We got a great start and the sending-off was a key moment.

"From that moment it was always going to be difficult for Birmingham and we really put them to the sword in the second half.

"The most pleasing aspect was that we didn't showboat. We wanted more goals but we did it in the right way."

Marc Pugh (left) scored a second-half hat-trick against Birmingham