Ten-man West Ham shrugged off their numerical disadvantage to take a narrow 2-1 lead over Birmingham into the second leg of the Carling Cup semi-final. Two teams in the bottom six of the Premier League table battled it out at Upton Park to take some sort of result back to Birmingham in the second leg of the Carling Cup.
West Ham edged the game thanks to an error by Blues keeper Ben Foster who allowed Carlton Cole's shot to slip through his hands and over the line with 12 minutes remaining.
Birmingham struggled in the first half and were deservedly a goal down at the break thanks to Mark Noble's early half-volley.
But the game seemed to swing in the visitor's favour on 59 minutes when striker Victor Obinna was shown red for kicking Sebastian Larsson.
Only three minutes earlier the Blues had drawn level with a Liam Ridgewell header and looked set to go on and make their extra man advantage count.
Yet for all their pressure the Hammers defended well, if at times with a hint of desperation, and their luck continued when Cole's effort embarrassed Foster.
Birmingham continued to press in the remaining minutes but the West Ham defence stood firm to give them a narrow advantage for the return at St Andrews.
Referee: Phil Dowd
Venue: Upton Park Attendance:
West Ham scorers: Noble 13, Cole 78 Birmingham scorers: Ridgewell 56
WEST HAM 01 Green 02 Reid 05 Tomkins 15 Upson 18 Spector 20 Faubert 08 Parker 16 Noble (Kovac 90) 19 Sears (Hines 74) 30 Piquionne (Cole 73) 33 Obinna (red card)
Substitutes 31 Boffin, 27 Spence, 13 Boa Morte, 14 Kovac, 09 Cole, 24 Nouble, 26 Hines
BIRMINGHAM 26 Foster 02 Carr 05 Johnson 06 Ridgewell 15 Dann (Murphy 46) 07 Larsson (Zigic 87) 08 Gardner 12 Ferguson 18 Fahey 22 Hleb (Beausejour 83) 10 Jerome
Substitutes 01 Taylor, 03 Murphy, 28 Jiranek, 23 Beausejour, 25 Mutch, 14 Derbyshire, 19 Zigic
