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Maxime Colin's goal was his first since March 2018

Maxime Colin's 31st-minute goal secured victory for Birmingham City over Blackburn Rovers at St Andrew's.

Defender Colin headed in Dan Crowley's inch-perfect cross at the back post after good work in the build-up from Kerim Mrabti and Fran Villalba.

Birmingham were good value for their victory after having the better of the match, but Blackburn twice came close to equalising in the last 10 minutes.

Danny Graham fired wide of the near post from inside the penalty area after being found by Adam Armstrong, before Elliott Bennett's deflected strike was tipped over superbly by Lee Camp.

Tony Mowbray's side had struggled to create clear-cut chances before then, with Stewart Downing's driven effort that flew wide in the 64th minute their only meaningful threat on Camp's goal.

Birmingham, on the other hand, will feel they could have won more comfortably after creating numerous opportunities in both halves.

In the 15th minute, Mrabti slipped a neat through ball to Villalba, whose first-time shot drew a good near-post save from Christian Walton.

Walton was tested again 10 minutes later when teenage midfielder Jude Bellingham turned his marker and struck from the edge of the box.

In the second half, Villalba missed a chance to seal the game after getting on the end of Lukas Jutkiewicz's cutback, before Jutkiewicz himself struck the underside of the bar with a fierce effort from 30 yards.

The victory will be a welcome relief for Blues, who had lost four of their previous five games, while Tony Mowbray's Blackburn are now winless in five.

Birmingham City caretaker head coach Pep Clotet told BBC WM 95.6:

"The goal sums up what we're trying to do: to play quick, electric football. It was a wonderful goal.

"For us to have a home run is very important. Knowing you are strong at home allows you to experiment and take away games as bonuses.

"When you lose a game, you have to focus on the positives. We won, but I'm thinking about what negative points we can use to improve."

Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"Very disappointing, our first-half performance, particularly. I haven't seen that for over two years from our team.

"It's hugely disappointing. I don't know where it came from, and I didn't see it coming.

"We improved after half-time, but not enough, and we got nothing from a game that we probably deserved nothing from."