Birmingham City 2-1 Ipswich Town

Michael Morrison's second-half header was his third goal of the season

Birmingham City got their Championship promotion bid back on course after two straight defeats as they hung on to beat lowly Ipswich Town.

Clayton Donaldson fired Blues ahead from the penalty spot, four minutes before injury cut short his evening.

Michael Morrison headed a second from David Cotterill's 53rd-minute corner.

Adam Webster's header from Tom Lawrence's cross proved only a consolation, when Ipswich had a late equaliser ruled out for pushing.

Blues go up to seventh in the table, a point off the play-offs, while Ipswich are five points clear of trouble.

A poor first half was enlivened only by a fine save at either end by the two Polish goalkeepers, Tomasz Kuszczak denying Ipswich's David McGoldrick with a point-blank stop before Bartosz Bialkowski did the same to thwart home striker Lukas Jutkiewicz.

But the game came to life when Donaldson scored his sixth goal of the season after Luke Varney had blocked Jutkiewicz's goal-bound shot with his arm.

Donaldson then departed on a stretcher following a collision with Webster, but Blues did not need their top scorer to double their lead, with captain Morrison heading in from eight yards.

Webster's effort, from Lawrence's neat chipped left-wing cross, caused worry for the majority of the 15,212 fans making up Blues' lowest league crowd of the season.

But Christophe Berra's late strike was disallowed for pushing, ensuring victory for Gary Rowett's side.

Birmingham City coach Mark Sale told BBC Sport:

"Clayton Donaldson already had a little issue with his Achilles, which he's had over the last couple of weeks.

"As he landed, he may have overstretched it, but fingers crossed, it's not too bad. We'll take a proper look in the morning.

"I know Mick was not too pleased on their disallowed goals but he's given it as the lad his two arms on Michael Morrison's shoulders. And it looked a correct decision."

Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy told BBC Sport:

"It was a penalty. It hit Varney on the arm. But we had a perfectly legitimate goal ruled out at the end. I think he's given it against Christophe Berra, but Ryan Shotton didn't jump.

"I certainly didn't see too many fouls go our way. One challenge on Berra wasn't so much a foul, it was more GBH.

"But whingeing doesn't get you anywhere. It's an uphill battle at the moment. I don't think we've played badly as a team in recent weeks. We've just got to cut out the mistakes."