Tony Mowbray’s unbeaten start to life as Birmingham boss continued with an impressive 2-1 win at Stoke.
Fulham loanee Jay Stansfield handed the visitors a dream opening when he fired in an eighth league goal of the season after 10 minutes.
The Potters, who were unbeaten since Steven Schumacher’s appointment last month, reacted positively but struggled to create clear chances.
Mowbray’s outfit began the second period in similar fashion to the first as Juninho Bacuna’s exquisite free-kick doubled their lead.
The home side teed up an intriguing finish to the tie when Jordan Thompson halved their arrears, but Blues held on for a crucial three points.
Stoke, who were unbeaten in five league games, started brightly and should have opened the scoring inside eight minutes.
John Ruddy parried a troubling Wouter Burger volley only as far as Bae Jun-ho, but the South Korea youth international could only fire the rebound into the side netting.
The hosts were immediately punished as Birmingham landed a sucker-punch on the counter through their leading marksman.
Koji Miyoshi’s through ball was latched on to by Stansfield, who shrugged off the challenge of Luke McNally to fire in an emphatic opener.
The Potters responded brightly to their early setback and should have levelled to cap off a frenetic first quarter of an hour.
Ryan Mmaee sprung the offside trap and raced through on goal, but his shot was saved well by the imposing Ruddy.
Then it was the turn of forward partner Andre Vidigal to go close, yet his guided effort dropped narrowly wide of the far post.
Only Exeter have scored fewer home league goals in the EFL than Stoke’s tally of 10 this season, and that wastefulness in the final third was on show again.
The hosts struggled to make their dominance count and Michael Rose spurned the chance of the half when he failed to convert from point-blank range.
At the opposite end, a bright Stansfield nearly notched his second of the afternoon before the interval, but he miscued his strike following a Daniel Iversen save.
The England Under-21 forward’s blushes were saved shortly after the restart thanks to a moment of brilliance courtesy of Bacuna.
The Curacao international stepped up from 25 yards and curled a delicious free-kick straight into the top corner beyond a helpless Iversen.
Again, Stoke rallied in their pursuit of a response with Jun-ho lifting an effort on to the crossbar and substitute Tyrese Campbell also going close.
The hosts’ persistence was eventually rewarded when Thompson bundled in his side’s first home league goal from open play since October 25.
But a late onslaught proved to be in vain for Schumacher’s side, who failed to repeat a 3-1 victory from the reverse fixture on Boxing Day.
Ancelotti lauds Real Madrid goalscorer Vinicius after first-leg double
Carlo Ancelotti believes Vinicius Junior is constantly developing his attacking output, after the Real Madrid forward delivered again in the Champions League.
Vinicius scored twice as Madrid drew 2-2 with Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final tie on Tuesday.
Those strikes took Vinicius to 31 goal involvements (16 goals, 15 assists) in the Champions League since the start of the 2021-22 campaign, which is more than any other player in the competition in the same time period.
Vinicius' opener came when he cut inside and latched onto an exceptional pass from Toni Kroos, and Ancelotti pointed out how the Brazil international is beginning to change how he attacks.
Speaking to TNT Sports, Ancelotti said: "Vinicius is starting to understand how important it is for him to move inside the pitch and not only close to the line.
"He's learned really well how to move. It was a fantastic pass from Kroos but a fantastic run from Vinicius."
Reflecting on his team's performance, Ancelotti said: "It was an interesting game, an open game of course – as it has to be for a semi-final. I think we could play better, I don’t think we played our best and we had problems in the first half.
"We started to put pressure on in the second half to level the game – it was much better.
"We are comfortable with a low block but we didn’t play with intensity. With a low block you have to have intensity, you have to win duels, second balls. We were too low. We tried to change something.
"The game was difficult at 2-1 down, but then we had the energy and character to equalise – the second part of the second half was really good."
Coventry City 1-2 Ipswich Town: Burgess puts Tractor Boys on brink of promotion
Ipswich Town took a huge step to Premier League promotion after Cameron Burgess snatched a second-half winner in Tuesday's 2-1 victory over Coventry City.
Kieran McKenna's side require just one point from their final Championship game against League One-bound Huddersfield Town to go up, after a decisive victory at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Kieffer Moore blasted in an eighth-minute opener for the visitors after Wes Burns' crafty cutback pass, easing the pressure on Ipswich and dampening the top-two hopes of third-placed Leeds United.
Haji Wright levelled in the second half, only for Burgess to squeeze a winning goal past Bradley Collins five minutes later, putting Ipswich on the brink of top-flight football for the first time since their relegation in 2002.
A draw against Huddersfield, who are 23rd and three points adrift of safety, would secure promotion at Portman Road, marking just the fourth instance of back-to-back promotions in the Premier League era.
Having managed to climb out of League One, McKenna's entertaining side would join Watford, rivals Norwich City and Southampton as the only sides to achieve the feat.
Data Debrief: Ipswich end winless run at perfect time
Prior to this game, only five teams had won fewer points in the Championship than Ipswich's six since the beginning of April (W1 D3 L1).
Yet McKenna's men refused to let their top-flight push derail as the Tractor Boys ended a four-game winless run to move within touching distance of history.
Al Ittihad 1-2 Al Hilal: Holders into King's Cup final
Al Hilal overcame Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's red card as Saud Abdulhamid's late goal sealed a 2-1 victory over Al Ittihad in the King's Cup semi-finals.
Without Karim Benzema, Al Ittihad ultimately lacked the firepower to make their numerical advantage count in Tuesday's clash.
Former Lazio midfielder, who joined Al Hilal as part of their spending spree last year, received a straight red card in the 42nd minute.
Al Ittihad's Abderrazzaq Hamed-Allah cancelled out Micheal's opener, but Abdulhamid popped up with the winner in the 81st minute.
Al Hilal are 10-time King's Cup winners, having won their 10th title last season.
The Saudi Pro League leaders, who are still without the injured Neymar, will now face either Al Khaleej or Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr in the final at the end of May.
Data Debrief: Malcom in the middle
Al Hilal might be missing their star Brazilian Neymar, but his compatriot Malcom is delivering when it comes to playmaking.
The former Zenit attacker set up both of Al Hilal's goals, creating three chances in total and registering a pass accuracy of 92.6 per cent, better than any of his team-mates.
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