Graphic: Tactical analysis by Bill Edgar

They were singing Liam Ridgewell’s name from both ends of St Andrew’s yesterday as the Birmingham City captain followed his “dangerous” move across the city to earn himself a place in the annals of Second City antiheroes by scoring the own goal that set Aston Villa on their way to derby triumph yesterday.

For good measure, Ridgewell came within a whisker of winning the match with a header five minutes from time that Gabriel Agbonlahor cleared off the line before the Villa striker went up the other end and beat his old friend to head in the goal that did decide the match. It was a storyline to throw in with those filed “Peter Enckelman’s nightmare”, “David O’Leary’s cross-field sprint” and the “Joey Gudjonsson/Dion Dublin red-card double”.

Agbonlahor led his teammates into a manic embrace, with the Villa fans appearing close to pouring out of the Railway End and minutes later threw his shirt to the jubilant fans before going over to commiserate with his former team-mate .

“You could not have written a script like that,” Ridgewell, who became the first player in 23 years to make a permanent move between these clubs in August when he left Villa for £2 million, said. “I’m disappointed I didn’t score for us and I was disappointed to score for them, but I thought the ball was going to be cleared at the near post. I’ve had worse things happen to me in my life than that.

“I went up to Gabby at the end and swore at him. I asked him why he had to clear that one off the line and, even worse, go and score. I told him not to do it again.”

Within ten minutes, wags in the crowd were asking whether Ridgewell was still on the Villa payroll. Memories of Enckelman, who let Olof Mellberg’s throw-in roll in off his studs in the clubs’ first top-flight derby in 17 years in September 2002, and Thomas Sorensen, who let one through his legs in March 2005, were refreshed as Stiliyan Petrov s u r g e d past Olivier Kapo down the right wing and crossed into the danger area.

The ball deflected past Maik Taylor off the knee of the unfortunate Ridgewell.

The former England Under21 player had played down the emotional significance of this derby beforehand, suggesting that he would prepare as he would for any other match.

He will not be allowed to forget the occasion now, as the chanting from the Railway End (Villa: ironic) and the Tilton End (Birmingham: encouraging) immediately told him.

Villa dominated the rest of the first half. John Carew, on his first appearance in six weeks, might have scored again, but, after being put in by Gareth Barry, his shot was well parried by Taylor, who also saved from the excellent Agbonlahor when the forward raced on to Carew’s flick-on.

For all Villa’s sharper passing and greater penetration, Birmingham could have been awarded two penalties. In only the fourth minute, Zat Knight appeared to handle when Cameron Jerome played the ball past him, then Daniel de Ridder dribbled inside Wilfred Bouma and Martin Laursen, but went over too readily and was booked.

Steve Bennett, the referee who sent Martin O’Neill to the stands when Fulham visited Villa recently, was kinder to the Villa manager on this occasion. “Whatever you say about Steve Bennett, he’s a very good referee,” O’Neill said. “He was right on the spot. If we’ve had a bit of luck, I’ll take it.”

Birmingham discarded their disappointment to reclaim the upper ground in the second half, thanks greatly to Mikael Forssell’s return to the side as a half-time substitute. Having scored a hat-trick in a friendly against Villa last week, the Finland forward responded when the occasion required yesterday, thudding in a header from De Ridder’s cross at the end of a fine move in which Fabrice Muamba played on Kapo’s neat chest-down. Knight was conspicuous by his absence in Villa’s defence.

Nigel Reo-Coker volleyed over when set up by Barry’s intelligent header, before Ridgewell and Agbonlahor went head-to-head with their late exchange of chances. “It shows what a fine line divides winning and losing,” Steve Bruce, the Birmingham manager, said. “In my opinion, we’ve been very harshly treated.”

Alarmingly, Birmingham have lost six of their past seven matches, while this was Villa’s first away win since April. Barry and Ashley Young, who crossed for Agbonlahor to head in the winner three minutes from time, were excellent yesterday, but the head boy was the local lad himself, Agbonlahor.

“He’s come on leaps and bounds,” O’Neill, who guided Celtic to six derby triumphs at Ibrox in his time north of the border, said of the player who was born six miles away from St Andrew’s, in Erdington. “He wants to get it down and play and he keeps improving. I’m delighted we won, but I can’t say I enjoyed it. I can’t remember enjoying many derbies.”

How they rated

BIRMINGHAM CITY

4-5-1
M Taylor 6 S Kelly Y 5 J Djourou 5 L Ridgewell 6 R Schmitz 5 D De Ridder Y 7 W Palacios 4 M Nafti 5 F Muamba Y 5 O Kapo 6 C Jerome 7

Substitutes M Forssell 7 (for Palacios, 46min), S Larsson (for Nafti, 73), G O’Connor (for Jerome, 75)
Not used R Kingson, G McSheffrey

ASTON VILLA

4-4-2
S Carson 7 O Mellberg 6 Z Knight 4 M Laursen 6 W Bouma 5 S Petrov 7 N Reo-Coker 4 G Barry Y 7 A Young 7 G Agbonlahor Y 7 J Carew 5

Substitutes L Moore 6 (for Carew, 69min)
Not used S Taylor, C Davies, C Gardner, S Maloney

Referee S Bennett
Attendance 26,539