Birmingham City 1 West Ham 0

Lee Bowyer was hardly a free-scoring force when he disappeared out of the Upton Park exit door over the summer, but he's breached a few defences for Birmingham since then. His latest winner gave the midlands side its fourth straight victory.

Bowyer did not celebrate when he netted on 52 minutes, striding onto Cameron Jerome's ball to finish from ten yards. He will be more jubilant when he sees the league table, which finds Birmingham level on points with Liverpool in the top half.

While the home side had a noticeable territorial advantage in the first half, Alessandro Diamanti had a couple of chances to give the visitors a precious lead. He crashed a shot beyond Joe Hart's post after a good run from the left wing on 35 minutes, and curled a shot wide a minute later following a knock-down from Guillermo Franco.

Bowyer's goal shook up the game even further, and another former Newcastle player nearly got on the scoresheet on his return from injury. Kieron Dyer has barely taken the field for West Ham since his transfer in 2007, but he hit the inside of the post just a minute after getting on the field.

Mark Noble's challenge on Christian Benitez on 77 minutes earned him a second yellow card. Wolves' away win against Tottenham put West Ham back in the drop zone. They will travel to second-bottom side Bolton on Tuesday, before returning to Upton Park to play league leaders Chelsea.

Birmingham: Hart, Carr, Ridgewell, Johnson, Dann, Bowyer, Larsson, Ferguson, Jerome, Benitez (Fahey 90+2), McFadden (Phillips 90+1)

Subs not used: Taylor, Gregory Vignal, McSheffrey, O'Shea, Carsley

West Ham: Green, Gabbidon, Ilunga (Nouble 83), Tomkins, Parker, Kovac (Dyer 68), Noble, Faubert, Stanislas (Collison 69), Franco, Alessandro Diamanti

Subs not used: Kurucz, Spector, Da Costa, Payne

Attendance: 28,203