Birmingham City 1-0 Blackburn Rovers: Reda Khadra earns victory for Blues
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Reda Khadra's goal was his third since joining Birmingham on loan from Brighton
Reda Khadra grabbed the only goal as Birmingham moved closer to safety and dented Blackburn's play-off push.
The on-loan Brighton midfielder fired through a crowd to put the Blues ahead on the hour.
Rovers battled hard for an equaliser but John Ruddy's double save from Lewis Travis and Bradley Dack sealed the three points.
It was a third win in four games for Birmingham, who are nine points clear of the bottom three in 15th place, while Blackburn slip to sixth on goal difference following Millwall's draw across the city at West Brom.
Rovers survived an early scare when Travis deflected a Lukas Jutkiewicz cross against his own post as the home side looked more likely to open the scoring during the first period.
Jutkiewicz might have found the net twice in as many minutes, with one attempt spinning behind off Dom Hyam before Blackburn goalkeeper Aynsley Pears pulled off a smart reaction stop to deny the striker.
For the visitors, Hyam headed over the bar from a corner and Ryan Hedges forced a save from Ruddy, who also foiled Hayden Carter shortly before the interval.
The Blues' keeper was called on to exert himself again after the restart, leaping to push away another Hedges attempt as Blackburn worked a short corner.
But the breakthrough came at the other end when the visitors failed to clear a corner and Maxime Colin teed up Khadra, who drilled home from the edge of the box - his second goal in successive home games.
Rovers brought Dack and Ben Brereton-Diaz off the bench and the pair combined to force Ruddy into action again as Birmingham clung onto their lead.
The keeper then foiled Travis and Dack in quick succession, with Sam Gallagher heading another chance wide during nine minutes of added time.
Birmingham head coach John Eustace told BBC WM 95.6:
"I was really proud of the effort, the way the boys stuck together.
"We were up against a top Championship team and I felt we were relatively in control without the ball, but we showed some real good quality with the ball as well.
"Obviously I'm pleased with Khadra's strike, it was a fantastic goal. I thought he was quite quiet, he wasn't up to the normal standards he has been, but he's a match-winner and that was an awesome strike.
"He does lots of finishing in training, he's top drawer at that and you could see it come out today."
Blackburn head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"It was an even game, we probably didn't do enough to win it but I definitely think we did enough to get a draw.
"We've met Birmingham now four times, they've all been equal games and I think the players know quite well what we can expect from the opponent.
"There were periods when we played some good football. When we played quick enough we created moments but we were lacking the final ball, the decision-making around the final third.
"We know at this stage of the season there will be some bumps on the road, that's normal and it doesn't only happen to Rovers."
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