Birmingham manager Wayne Rooney claimed his first points away from home with a 1-0 win at Cardiff in the Championship.
Juninho Bacuna’s goal on the stroke of half-time proved enough to decide an entertaining encounter at Cardiff City Stadium that was low on quality.
The result ends a run of eight away defeats in a row for Birmingham and five for former England striker Rooney since taking over at St Andrew’s in October.
Victory sees Blues move up two places to 16th, while Cardiff missed the chance to climb up to seventh and stay in contention for the play-off places, instead dropping to 10th.
Siriki Dembele tested Runar Runarsson from a tight angle in the early stages before Birmingham’s midfield pair carved out a chance for Jay Stansfield but the Fulham loanee fired his effort across goal.
Cardiff lost defender Perry Ng to a head injury – he was replaced by Mahlon Romeo after just 13 minutes – but had plenty of chances of their own in a lively first half.
Birmingham goalkeeper John Ruddy almost put the ball into his own net when he failed to gather a high ball and forward Kion Etete twice shot over the crossbar from Yakou Meite deliveries.
Ryan Wintle was also a threat with his set-piece deliveries as Dimitrios Goutas’ header had Ruddy scrambling low to his right.
Birmingham’s Lee Buchanan and Cardiff’s Etete both fired efforts over the crossbar as both teams continued to create chances, so it was no surprise that the first half should provide a goal in the third minute of added time.
Cardiff felt Etete was fouled when he lost possession but referee Stephen Martin waved play on and Birmingham took off upfield.
Jordan James and Dembele combined to release Bacuna who calmly rounded the onrushing Runarsson to finish into an empty net.
Cardiff began the second half on the front foot but had two early penalty appeals waved away by Martin and boss Erol Bulut was forced into early chances with the introduction of Callum Robinson and Josh Bowler.
However, it was Birmingham who looked most likely to grab a second.
Stansfield timed his run perfectly to break the Cardiff offside trap but his tame effort went straight into Runarsson’s hands.
Moments later and centre-back Emanuel Aiwu snatched at a chance from five yards after James fired in a volley.
Cardiff gradually ran out of ideas and energy, though Rubin Colwill had a chance to snatch a draw with the final effort of the game only to fire his free-kick straight at Ruddy.
Southampton 3-1 West Brom (3-1 agg): Saints set up play-off final with Leeds United
Southampton saw off West Brom 3-1 at St Mary's on Friday to set up a Championship play-off final showdown with Leeds United.
Leeds thumped Norwich City 4-0 at Elland Road 24 hours earlier to book their place at Wembley, where Southampton now await on May 26.
The first leg between the Saints and West Brom finished goalless - just like the other semi-final - but the home side's quality told in the end.
Russell Martin's side dominated the first-half possession, with David Brooks going closest to scoring with a shot that hit the outside of the post.
Southampton made the breakthrough via a powerful Will Smallbone finish four minutes into the second half after Gray Diangana lost possession.
Darnell Furlong had a shot helped over by Alex McCarthy, while David Brooks - who assisted the opener - had a strong penalty appeal rejected.
Southampton remained in control, though, and Adam Armstrong scored a second with a shot through Furlong's legs and past Alex Palmer.
Armstrong's second goal arrived from the penalty spot in the 86th minute after Tom Fellows fouled Ryan Manning in the box, rendering Cedric Kipre's late header a mere consolation.
Al-Nassr 1-1 Al-Hilal: Mitrovic scores last-gasp penalty
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a penalty in the 10th minute of second-half stoppage time as Al-Hilal denied Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr victory in a 1-1 draw.
Mitrovic netted his 27th Saudi Pro League goal of the campaign after Sadio Mane was harshly judged to have fouled Saud Abdulhamid in the area.
Mane stuck out an arm to shield the ball, catching his opponent in the throat, though the contact appeared to have been outside of the box.
Mitrovic made no mistake to keep Al-Hilal's unbeaten campaign going.
The Serbian's spot-kick cancelled out Otavio's first-minute opener, with Ronaldo having set up his compatriot.
Champions Al-Hilal remain 12 points clear of Al-Nassr at the summit of the Pro League standings.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo the provider
Ronaldo leads the scoring charts in Saudi Arabia this season, though he had to settle for an assist on Friday.
That came from the only chance he created, with the 39-year-old limited to 25 touches, though he did have four shots.
Leeds' belief never wavered as Wembley beckons
Ethan Ampadu said Leeds United's players never let their belief waver despite a poor end to their Championship campaign, with a trip to Wembley now coming up.
Leeds will face either Southampton or West Brom in the play-off final on May 26 after thrashing Norwich City 4-0 at Elland Road on Thursday.
The Whites endured a miserable end to their campaign, losing 4-0 at Queens Park Rangers before going down at home to Southampton on the final day, as Ipswich Town claimed automatic promotion behind Leicester City.
But after their emphatic defeat of the Canaries, who they drew with 0-0 in the first leg, Ampadu claimed Leeds never lost their way.
"Towards the end of the season there was a lot of talk about how we were playing, how we weren't on the front foot, how we weren't aggressive or clinical," he told Sky Sports.
"But we always had our belief that on our day, when we are firing, we can be hard for anyone to play against.
"When the front four, five, six play like that, they make the job of us defenders a lot easier.
"Whoever we play in the final it's going to be a hard game but to go in like this, to put in a performance like this, we can take momentum and confidence into it.
"The fans were second to none and we enjoyed their support – now we are going to prepare for the big one."
Georginio Rutter scored one and set up another in the rout, and he put the onus on Leeds to replicate the same level at Wembley.
"It's incredible. Today we go to Wembley," he said.
"We played a good game. I'm happy, everybody is happy. One more game and we will see.
"We played very good. 4-0 is a clean sheet. Today, we were mature. It's a very good performance from the team.
"I want to try my best and help the team. If we play like this [at the final], we have a good chance but we have to play like this."
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