Birmingham City won their first game in over a month as recorded an emphatic 4-1 win over Huddersfield Town at St Andrews.
Siriki Dembele scored two well-taken goals in between the two halves in between Koji Miyoshi’s 23rd-minute effort.
Michael Helik scored a consolation goal for the Terriers in stoppage time, but Jordan James had the last act of the game as he scored his first goal of the season to top off a fine evening.
Blues hadn’t won since August 26 against Bristol City, and the win in front of their home supporters took them up to places to 10th.
It was an electric start from Birmingham, who got their first attempt inside 30 seconds. Jay Stansfield teed the ball up to Krystian Bielik and his curling shot flashed just past the goal.
Ivan Sunjic sent through a side-splitting pass and Dembele dribbled past two defenders before hitting a too hard-to-handle shot for Lee Nicholls to beat him.
Birmingham had to be alert when defending their lead, and John Ruddy was forced into a save. Delano Burgzorg swept a shot that the goalkeeper tipped over the bar.
The home defence did well to turn defence to attack. An explosive effort from Dembele was just far-shy of the left-hand post as he asserted his role as the home danger man.
Birmingham doubled their lead inside 25 minutes as the ball flashed across the six-yard box and Cody Drameh picked out Miyoshi for a simple tap in.
Dembele nearly added to his opener as he cut inside on his right foot and flashed his shot just centimetres past the post with Nicholls scrambling.
It was one-way traffic in the first-half, and that forced Darren Moore to make two substitutions at the break. Blues made some rare errors but remained the side that had a firm control of the game.
The game was put to bed just after the hour mark. Dembele tore the Terriers to shreads, as Miyoshi’s ball found his way to the returning winger, and his shot curled under Nicholls to put the game beyond any reasonable doubt.
Huddersfield did have an opportunity to pull a goal back, but substitute Tom Edwards on the spin could only hook his shot over the bar in a crowded penalty box.
As five minutes of additional time were shown, Huddersfield scored consolation goal. Helik was picked out from the flanks and from a couple-of-yards out he tapped home.
Birmingham restored their three-goal lead in fine fashion. Substitute Jordan James drove a powerful effort past Nicholls, for his third goal of his Blues career.
Here are our player ratings from a comprehensive Birmingham victory.
9. Jay Stansfield (subbed off, 76) - 7
An absolute handful for the Huddersfield defence. He came to drop deep, and put the defenders and midfielders under pressure. | Getty Images Photo: Cameron Smith/Getty Images)
10. Koji Miyoshi (subbed off, 76) - 8.5
Right place at the right time to take his goal. He was clever and checking his shoulders to check what was around him, and found the right pockets of space. Goal and an assist. Class. | Getty Images Photo: Matt McNulty/Getty Images)
11. Siriki Dembele (subbed off, 76) - 9
An absolute joy to watch. An phenomenal performance from the returning Dembele. He terrorised the full-back during the first-half, and was frighteningly good. | Getty Images Photo: Matt McNulty/Getty Images)
12. Oliver Burke (subbed on, 76) - 6
Came on the the game was already settled. | Getty Images Photo: Cameron Howard/Getty Images