Ipswich Town 0 Birmingham City 1

Ipswich suffered their fourth home League defeat when Birmingham City beat them 1-0 at Portman Road on Boxing Day.

The fact that the setback came after a good run of results for Town made it all the more disappointing for the 17,000-plus crowd.

Jon McCarthy's corner, which sailed straight in after 83 minutes, sealed the points for the visitors. Off-colour Town looked flat throughout the game and only managed two tame efforts on target in the 90 minutes.

McCarthy's goal came when his corner eluded challengers at the near post, and by the time Simon Milton got it away, the ball had already crossed the line.

Had Town's keeper Richard Wright (left) not been on excellent form, the margin of defeat could have been greater, as he made a couple of superb saves to deny Peter Ndlovu.

The first came on nine minutes when Ndlovu turned to make space in the box and fired in a shot which Wright tipped against the bar.

His second fine save arrived five minutes before time when Ndlovu beat two men on a mazy run, only to see his drive well held by the onrushing Wright.

The pace of Ndlovu and his strike partner Nicky Forster caused constant problems for Ipswich.

The second half was a more even encounter with few chances at either end until McCarthy's intervention - just as it looked as if Town would hang on to a point.

TEAM: Wright, Stockwell, Taricco, Williams, Tanner (sub Mowbray, 52 mins), Cundy, Milton, Holland, Johnson, Mathie, Petta. Unused subs: Sonner, Naylor. Attendance: 17,459