Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 Birmingham City

Bobby Zamora's strike was his second goal in two games and his fourth in his last seven

Bobby Zamora's fourth goal of the season earned unbeaten Brighton a deserved win over Birmingham City to send them top of the Championship.

The veteran striker struck the winner after the break, tapping in after great work by the impressive Solly March.

It was March's thumping shot which put the hosts ahead in the first period.

Although Jon Toral headed Blues level, Brighton stretched their unbeaten start to the league season to 18 games thanks to Zamora's 47th-minute effort.

The margin of victory should have been far greater, with Manchester United loan striker James Wilson hitting the post on his debut late on and the Seagulls spurning numerous first-half opportunities.

March twice had sights of goal before netting the opener at the second attempt after Liam Rosenior and Jamie Murphy had combined to tee him up on 17 minutes.

Toral levelled four minutes later, heading in after home goalkeeper David Stockdale made an unconvincing attempt to keep out Jacques Maghoma's original strike.

Blues keeper Tomasz Kuszczak was lucky not to gift Brighton a second goal when he fumbled the ball over his own line only to be saved by referee Gavin Ward, who spotted a foul.

The visitors, who remain in the final Championship play-off place, could have made it 2-1 in five minutes of first-half injury time played because of a nasty-looking injury to Rosenior, who had to be taken off on a stretcher.

But midfielder Toral's fine left-foot effort went just wide and the Seagulls were back in front two minutes after the restart when Zamora - making his first Brighton home start in 12 years - tapped home his fourth goal in seven games.

Teenager Wilson replaced Zamora with 25 minutes to go and had the best chance to add a third home goal but saw his attempt come back off the foot of the post after running through one-on-one.

Stockdale then had to pull off a fine low save from David Davis in injury time to ensure former Birmingham boss Chris Hughton's Brighton have won all seven of their home games in which they have gone ahead this season.

Brighton manager Chris Hughton:

"Bobby Zamora has a certain know-how. He knows what he can't do. But he is not missing a lot of chances. The opportunities he's had, he has put away.

"He and Tomer Hemed can learn from Bobby. He is very good behind the scenes and does things in subtle ways.Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 Birmingham City

"I think we recruited well in the summer and had a very good pre-season."

Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett:

"Solly March gave Brighton real impetus but, once we got the defensive side of our game right, we had chances.

"Jon Toral equalised and could have scored again before half-time. He's been really good for us and could have had seven or eight goals this season.

"We are still in sixth place. We have lost a couple recently, but performances are the main thing. I'm sure we'll keep improving."

Solly March has scored three goals in 15 appearances this season

Jon Toral was Birmingham's main goal threat and almost put them ahead in first-half stoppage time

Bobby Zamora has now scored 87 goals in two spells with Brighton