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Caddis's winner against Nottingham Forest was his third goal of the season

Birmingham City maintained their revival under new manager Gary Rowett as Paul Caddis's late penalty proved enough to beat Nottingham Forest.

David Cotterill's stunning 20-yard strike gave Blues an interval lead.

Britt Assombalonga then headed Forest level six minutes from time.

But the Forest striker was sent off for handball on the line - a decision given by fourth official Nigel Smith from the touchline - and Caddis slotted in the winning 89th-minute spot-kick.

Under the gaze of former Blues and Forest favourite Trevor Francis, who had been invited along to receive an honour as one of the Midlands' all-time top celebrities, the biggest crowd of the season at St Andrew's were treated to a classic contest.

The Blues-Forest game was marked by a half-time presentation to legend Trevor Francis, who became the latest local Midlands celebrity to be welcomed into the Birmingham Walk of Stars. The 52-times capped former England international made his name with Blues before moving in 1979 to Forest, for whom he netted the European Cup winning goal in 1979. Although he originally he hails from Plymouth, he became an adopted Midlander, and a Blues idol, from the moment that he burst into the scene at the age of 16 at St Andrew's as a teenage scoring sensation. He netted 133 goals in 329 appearances in a decade at Blues before becoming this country's first million-pound footballer when he moved to Forest. He returned to Blues as manager almost two decades later to lead the club to the League Cup final and so nearly to the Premier League, only to repeatedly miss out in the play-offs.

A fifth successive game without defeat under Rowett moves Blues up two places in the Championship table to 17th - just six points behind Stuart Pearce's promotion-chasing Forest, who had won their previous two matches.

An already competitive encounter truly erupted into life on 10 minutes when Cotterill cut in from the right to curl home an exquisitely-struck left-foot shot off the underside of the bar - by far from being the recently-recalled Wales international's first spectacular long-range strike.

Blues then went close to a second on 31 minutes when right-back Caddis's attempted cross took a big, looping, deflection off Danny Fox before bouncing off the top of the bar.

But, in the end, they had to be indebted to a fine save by home keeper Darren Randolph to stay a goal clear at the break.

Blues old boy Chris Burke's chargedown sent him clear on goal, but his right-foot shot from the edge of the box was parried by Randolph, who got down well to save low to his right.

It needed an even better save from Forest keeper Karl Darlow, however, to keep out Clayton Donaldson's powerful right-foot shot as the home side dominated after the break.

That came either side of two dangerous headers at successive corners from on-loan home defender Michael Morrison. And Cotterill was only just too high with an outrageously cheeky 60-yard chip from just inside the Forest half.

Forest then sneaked a late equaliser when Michail Antonio's deflected cross was headed home at the far post by Assombalonga - followed by protests led by Blues skipper Paul Robinson.

But, just when it seemed as if Darlow's brilliant one-hand save had denied sub Lee Novak's volley to wreck hopes of claiming all three points, Blues had one last shout.

Morrison's goalbound header was kept out on the line by Assombalonga. And, after mass protests from the Blues players, following a touchline consultation with Mr Smith, and now sparking great anger in the Forest dug-out, referee Geoff Eltringham gave the penalty - and Caddis sent Darlow the wrong way from the spot.

Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett told BBC WM:

"It was controversial the way it happened. The referee gave a corner, the linesman gave a corner and it was the fourth official who said it was handball.

"The referee took his time and conferred with him. And, as galling as it must have been for the Forest bench, it was the right decision.

"You can argue whether he should make the decision from that far away, but you can't argue with the fact that it was the right decision in the end.

"I wasn't 100% clear until I'd seen it again but, having seen the replay, it was without a shadow of the doubt, the right decision."

Nottingham Forest manager Stuart Pearce told BBC Radio Nottingham:

"It took a while for the decision to be made but eventually the right one was and we accept that. We'll never be a football club that bemoans the match officials.

"I saw Britt handball it and so did the fourth official behind me. I'm not quite sure how the referee and his linesman, who were closer, could not see that but fair play to the referee. He has admitted he couldn't see the incident.

"We've got a lot of hard work to do before the Charlton game next week. The players need to show me they're up for the fight.

"We're not going to use the penalty as a smokescreen or an excuse for why we haven't taken something from this game. We didn't play well enough. That is the bottom line."