TROY DEENEY SCORED a first-half brace as Birmingham held off a late fightback to edge a narrow 3-2 Sky Bet Championship victory over Reading and move up to seventh in the table.
Deeney’s first goal came after only 56 seconds when the Royals failed to clear their lines following a Juninho Bacuna cross.
The former Watford man doubled his goal tally for the evening 21 minutes later from the penalty spot after he was fouled by Naby Sarr.
Tahith Chong soon bagged his first goal of the season when he rounded Joe Lumley after 36 minutes to extend the hosts’ lead.
Lucas Joao pulled one back for Reading after 83 minutes before Tom Ince scored from range in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage-time in an attempt to complete a comeback.
A first win for Blues since the winter restart meant they leapfrogged Reading into seventh with Birmingham currently sitting only two points outside the play-off places.
John Eustace’s side failed to score in their first match after the winter restart last weekend against Blackpool as his side missed a number of fine opportunities.
But this time round it took only 56 seconds for Birmingham to put the ball into the back of the net after Mamadou Loum flicked on Bacuna’s cross into the path of Deeney and the striker did not panic as he calmly volleyed the ball beyond Lumley.
Deeney had the perfect chance to bag his fifth goal of the season midway through the first half after he was recklessly brought down by Sarr inside the penalty area following a sliding challenge.
Deeney did not disappoint as he blasted his resulting penalty into the bottom-right corner.
Less than 15 minutes later, Birmingham went 3-0 up when Manchester United loanee Hannibal Mejbri played a quick free-kick in behind the Royals defence to fellow former United forward Chong, who remained composed as he rounded Lumley and slotted the ball into the empty net.
Blues captain Deeney had a golden opportunity to bag his first hat-trick since 2014 when he had an open goal in the 48th minute.
Lumley came out of his goal to deny Chong on the left side of the box, but the ball fell perfectly for Deeney on the edge of the area, however his low shot was heroically blocked by Tom McIntyre on the line.
The Royals finally had something to cheer about in the 82nd minute when Ince provided a dangerous cross into Andy Carroll, but his shot was blocked into the path of Jeff Hendrick, whose close-range effort was saved by Ruddy only for Joao to head the ball over the line.
Ince then bagged another goal back for Reading in stoppage-time when his low shot from the edge of the area flew under a number of bodies before crashing into the back of the net.
