INCH by inch, Reading are clawing their way towards survival. But what will please their manager, Steve Coppell, most about yesterday’s hard-earned victory, their third in four games, was the source of the two goals.

Andre Bikey is not a renowned goalscorer. His first-half header, which gave Reading the lead, was only the third of his career at the Madejski and it was followed nearly 50 minutes later by his fourth, an exact replica. As a French speaker, the Cameroonian will understand the term déjà vu, but Alex McLeish, the Birmingham manager, might resort to blunter language to describe the incompetence of his defence in allowing the Reading defender to score from two routine set-plays.

Bikey’s unlikely double act revived memories of last season when someone always seemed to come good for Reading and confirmed the shift in momentum from the dark days of the new year when a run of eight straight defeats threatened to undermine all Coppell’s good work and return a decent, hard-working club to their old haunts. A last-gasp victory at Middlesbrough and a precious home win against Manchester City began to banish the blues and three more points yesterday left Reading only nine shy of the 40-point watermark. Trappy fixtures against Fulham, Newcastle, Wigan and Derby remain, but as Coppell pointed out, the ball is firmly in Reading’s court now.

Birmingham’s plight, on the contrary, is getting desperate. This is the start of the silly season where Sunderland recorded their first away victory at Aston Villa and even Newcastle managed to win. One victory in 12 is ominous form with which to tackle the run-in for McLeish, whose frustration must be growing. His side are playing with surprising enterprise without reaping any reward for their often neat approach play and now that James McFadden will miss at least another two games after undergoing keyhole surgery on a knee injury late last week, they will be deprived of a major source of invention.

McLeish rued his side’s missed chances yesterday, notably a gift engineered for Gary McSheffrey by the resourceful Mikael Forssell in the first 10 minutes and a turn and swivel by the centre-forward himself shortly after Mauro Zarate, a 21-year-old Argentinian on loan from Al Sadd in Qatar, had equalised midway through the second half. McSheffrey’s usually reliable left foot let him down as he dragged his shot wide from 12 yards and Hahnemann pulled off a fine block to deny Forssell.

“On another day we could have won the game,” lamented McLeish. “We felt pretty good about getting back into it, which we did, but if you can’t apply the finishing touch and don’t keep it out at the other end, you’re in trouble.”

Birmingham fans might care to look away now. Not content with watching Bikey cut across their defence to glance home Hunt’s free kick for the simplest of openers in the 32nd minute, they performed an encore of their statue impersonation 10 minutes from time from another free kick, this one earned by Shane Long, a replacement for John Oster, and taken by Nicky Shorey.

Bikey, whose previous claim to fame was for being sent off in the Africans Nations Cup for inexplicably launching himself at a paramedic, celebrated his good fortune with a triple somersault and pointed to the sky in honour of his mother-in-law who died on Friday.

Both managers deserve credit for their ambition. Given the high stakes, this was a cracking match, shaded by Reading in a bitter wind in the first half and by Birmingham for long periods of the second after Zarate had drifted past Bikey and turned home Forssell’s clever cutback. Birmingham were in the ascendancy then, breaking quickly and exploiting Reading’s brief attack of nerves.

But Reading, helped immeasurably by Hahnemann’s point-blank block from Forssell six minutes after the equaliser, steadied themselves and when Liam Ridgewell blatantly obstructed Long to earn the sole yellow card, Bikey rose to the challenge. “He does like to celebrate with a flourish,” said Coppell. At last, towards the close of a torrid season, Reading are beginning to get a spring in their step as well.

Match stats

Star man: Andre Bikey (Reading)

Player ratings

Reading: Hahnemann 7, Rosenior 5, Bikey 8, Ingimarsson 5, Shorey 6, Oster 5 (Long 77min), Harper 6, Matejovsky 7 (Cisse 81min), Hunt 7, Kitson 5, Doyle 6.

Birmingham City: Taylor 6, Kelly 6, Ridgewell 6, Jaidi 6, Murphy 5, Larsson 4, Muamba 5, Nafti 6, McSheffrey 5 (O’Connor 65min), Zarate 6, Forssell 7 Scorers: Reading: Bikey 31, 79 Birmingham: Zarate 64 Yellow card: Birmingham: Ridgewell

Referee: M Riley Attendance: 24,085