Birmingham City 1-0 West Bromwich Albion - Lyle Taylor's penalty beats Steve Bruce's Baggies
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Lyle Taylor's penalty was his fourth goal since joining Blues on loan from Nottingham Forest in January
Birmingham City pretty much ended any lingering hopes West Bromwich Albion might have had of making the Championship play-offs as they beat ex-Blues boss Steve Bruce's Baggies.
In a desperately poor derby, the only goal of the game came from the penalty spot, from on-loan Nottingham Forest striker Lyle Taylor.
And that ended a sorry run for Blues against their neighbours.
Birmingham had not beaten Albion in nine attempts since Bruce himself was City manager with two Gary McSheffrey goals in a 2-0 win back in October 2006.
But it took a moment of Albion madness on 67 minutes to gift a goal to a Blues side who had not won, or even scored, in three matches.
Onel Hernandez went haring after Juninho Bacuna's searching long ball down the right, pursued by Albion left-back Conor Townsend.
Hernandez got there first and attempted to hook over a first-time cross, but Townsend instinctively flung out his right arm, the ball hit it and referee Dean Whitestone gave the penalty.
Taylor then performed his now customary slow walk-up penalty routine before despatching a superbly struck right-foot shot to Albion keeper Sam Johnstone's right.
That ended listless Albion's four-game unbeaten run on a cold, miserable day when they could not manage a single effort on target, although they did have one early penalty shout dismissed when the ball struck off-balance Blues defender Marc Roberts' outstretched hand.
Blues' only other on-target shot on an afternoon best forgotten was a long-range 52nd-minute effort from Bacuna that was hit hard and low but was well held by Johnstone.
Victory for Lee Bowyer's side, only Blues' seventh home win this season, lifted them a place to 18th, now 16 points clear of trouble and within nine points of 12th-placed Albion.
The Baggies have now fallen eight points adrift of the play-off pack with just seven games left.
They now have three home games on the trot - Bournemouth on Wednesday, Stoke City on Saturday and Blackpool on Good Friday. But, after just three wins in 17 league matches - two in 10 for Bruce - even their most optimistic fans can expect nothing more from this hugely disappointing season.
Blues' next game is at Forest next Saturday, when they will have to make a change as Taylor is not allowed to be involved against his parent club.
Birmingham City boss Lee Bowyer told BBC Sport:
"It wasn't pretty, was it? It was really scrappy. Both sides struggled to pass it.
"We had to win ugly and we did that. It was a clean sheet against a lot of players who can hurt you.
"And it's been a long time since we beat West Brom so that's something positive to take.
"Lyle Taylor started taking penalties like that a long time ago and I have faith in him. I had no doubt he would score."
West Bromwich Albion boss Steve Bruce told BBC Sport:
"That's got to be the worst game of football I've ever seen. It was lacking in quality on both sides.
"We had a stone-wall penalty shout in the fourth minute which the referee missed. He seemed to blow the whistle then think 'what have I done?' and invented a free-kick for them instead.
"It's a derby game and you expect it to be a bit frantic. But we didn't possess any real quality in the top end of the pitch.
"The results on Saturday gave us a wonderful opportunity and we haven't taken it. That's the frustration and why we are where we are in mid-table, when we're a team who are supposed to be at the top end."