Birmingham City know all about keeping right on until the end of the road. They reclaimed the lead of the Coca-Cola Championship last night when Garry O’Connor chested the ball over the line in the fourth minute of stoppage time, after three had been indicated. Neil Warnock, as one might expect of the Crystal Palace manager, was not overly amused at this apparent anomaly.

Just when it appeared that Birmingham had failed to find the cutting edge, despite fielding three strikers throughout, Kevin Phillips popped up on the far side of the penalty area to drive Stuart Parnaby’s cross goalwards. Julián Speroni, the Crystal Palace goalkeeper, palmed the ball out but only against the Scotland striker, whose jubilation was enhanced by the knowledge that he had struck two shots against a post in the first half. Phillips, dyed-in-the-wool goalscorer that he is, barely celebrated as his strike partner ran away to be acclaimed the match-winner instead.

With Wolverhampton Wanderers losing for the third time in four games, Birmingham moved two points clear in their bid for an immediate return to the Barclays Premier League. Palace had not conceded a goal in their three previous matches, all victories, so their resilience should not be under-estimated, although they ventured little last night. Their frustration spilt over after the final whistle when Shaun Derry, the captain, grabbed José Fonte by the throat, presumably for his errant marking. Keith Curle, the Palace coach, and Phillips tried to separate the pair.

Warnock attempted to keep his lip buttoned when asked about the amount of added time. “When the home side are attacking in front of how many thousand, the referee [Nigel Miller] is not going to blow the whistle until the ball’s gone up the other end, is he?” the Palace manager said.

Birmingham are averaging only a goal a game at St Andrew’s so O’Connor was cursing his luck in the first half. Running on to an outside-of-the-boot pass from the recalled Franck Queudrue, he swerved past his marker and unleashed a fine drive against the woodwork. Then, from Phillips’s pass, he dispatched an even more outrageous shot from farther out, only to hold his head in his hands as the ball struck the same post.

Palace dropped ever deeper in the second period and O’Connor’s luck finally changed. Nigel Quashie, signed yesterday on a month’s loan from West Ham United, retrieved the ball for Parnaby to send in his cross and for Phillips, who had scored the winning goal against Sheffield United two minutes into stoppage time on the first day of the season, to take aim.

“The tenacity and determination of the players contributed to the winning goal,” Alex McLeish, the Birmingham manager, said. “If anyone deserved a goal tonight, it was O’Connor, for his all-round game, his touch, his two shots against the post. He’s done what every good forward should do and followed the shot in.”

Birmingham City (4-3-3): M Taylor – S Parnaby, M Taylor, L Ridgewell, F Queudrue – S Larsson, L Carsley, K Agustien (sub: N Quashie, 73min) – C Jerome (sub: M Bent, 58), G O’Connor, K Phillips. Substitutes not used: C Doyle, J Wilson, M Nafti.

Crystal Palace (4-5-1): J Speroni – D Butterfield, J Fonte, M Lawrence, C Hill – P Ifil (sub: J Ertl, 90), B Watson, S Derry, N Carle (sub: N Danns, 83), V Moses (sub: S Kuqi, 58) – C Beattie. Substitutes not used: S Scannell, J Oster. Booked: Lawrence, Kuqi.

Referee: N Miller.