Birmingham gave their Sky Bet Championship survival hopes a huge boost with a 3-0 home win over Coventry which put a major dent in their visitors’ play-off hopes.

An own goal by Bobby Thomas in the 12th minute opened the scoring, Ivan Sunjic made it two three minutes before half-time and Jay Stansfield killed the contest with his 13th of the season.

The result was Blues’ biggest win since October – and only their second success in 11 – and moved them out of the relegation zone after Bristol City denied struggling Huddersfield with a last-gasp leveller.

Coventry’s third defeat in four left the FA Cup semi-finalists six points adrift of the top six with four games to go ahead of their big date at Wembley against Manchester United next weekend.

The Sky Blues threatened first with a firm, low angled drive from Milan van Ewijk that was deflected just wide.

Blues countered with a stabbed effort from Tyler Roberts and then a shot from Koji Miyoshi that brushed the side-netting.

And they soon got their noses in front.

Lee Buchanan’s throw-in on the left was worked to Roberts, who turned the ball inside for Keshi Anderson, whose cross hit Thomas and deflected in at the near post.

The closest Coventry came to scoring came in the 20th minute when Haji Wright hit the bar.

Goalkeeper John Ruddy came out of his box to head away a clearance, but only as far as Wright, whose volleyed lob bounced before hitting the woodwork.

Blues remained in the ascendancy and Stansfield twice should have done better instead of firing first over and then several feet wide from 20 yards.

Sunjic doubled the hosts’ lead with a rasping low drive from just inside the area after Paik Seung-ho’s corner was headed away by Liam Kitching, his effort catching keeper Bradley Collins unawares.

Coventry, following a triple substitution at half-time, began the second half looking much improved, creating two quick opportunities.

Kasey Palmer’s 25-yard drive was parried by Ruddy, then Ben Sheaf fired a rising effort over from just inside the area.

There was now an edge to the match and Stansfield and Van Ewijk were booked for shoving each other after the Blues striker was penalised when he thought he had won the ball back.

But Birmingham dashed any hopes of a Coventry comeback when Stansfield made it 3-0.

The on-loan Fulham forward clipped the ball past Collins after his superb diagonal run behind the defence which took him beyond Kitching was spotted by Roberts.

Coventry’s sensational late show stunned leaders Leicester as the 10-man Foxes were deservedly beaten.

Callum O’Hare’s double and Milan van Ewijk’s goal fired the Sky Blues to a 3-1 win.

O’Hare’s 79th-minute strike hauled them level, after Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s controversial penalty gave the visitors the lead, before the midfielder netted late following van Ewijk’s effort two minutes from time.

The Sky Blues were furious about the penalty but were given hope by Abdul Fatawu’s red card in first-half stoppage time.

Leicester slipped to a first defeat in 11 Championship games with Coventry maintaining their play-off challenge.

Beforehand, both clubs condemned those who had hung banners on the M69 mocking the death of former owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and abusing Leicester fans.

The hosts had lost just once since December, a seven-match unbeaten run pushing them to the brink of the play-offs and the Sky Blues took that confidence to go at Leicester early, coming close after six minutes.

The busy O’Hare won the ball back for Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and the winger jinked past James Justin and Mads Hermansen turned his drive onto the post.

A minute before Matty Godden curled at Hermansen while Kasey Palmer drilled wide soon after with the Foxes yet to get going.

Leicester last lost in November, successive defeats to Leeds and Middlesbrough, and had dropped just four points since yet they were unnerved by Coventry’s bustling approach.

Godden’s deflected effort skidded wide as the Sky Blues continued to press, only for Leicester to issue a warning 10 minutes before half time.

Good work from Dewsbury-Hall saw the Foxes break and when the midfielder swapped passes with Stephy Mavididi he teed up Cesare Casadei, only for the forward to slide his shot inches wide.

O’Hare then had his own chance but failed to get a connection before late drama at the end of the half.

Van Ewijk lost possession and allowed Dewsbury-Hall to chase, Bobby Thomas came steaming in and, while he won the ball, the defender caught the Leicester man with the follow through.

Referee Darren England pointed to the spot and Dewsbury-Hall sent Brad Collins the wrong way after 44 minutes.

If the visitors thought they would then see out the half with few problems they were mistaken when Fatawu – who had earlier been warned to calm down by Wout Faes – cleaned out Jake Bidwell in stoppage time and was instantly shown a red card.

Coventry tried to capitalise and Godden wasted a fine chance, heading van Ewijk’s cross at Hermansen 10 minutes into the second half.

Leicester carried little threat and it was up to Coventry to break them down but Mark Robins’ men struggled for inspiration, despite the man advantage, until O’Hare struck with 11 minutes left.

Substitutes Ellis Simms and Jay Dasilva combined to set up O’Hare for the midfielder to curl in low from 12 yards.

Coventry went chasing victory and went ahead in the 88th minute when Sakamoto’s corner was only cleared to van Ewijk on the edge of the box and he found the bottom corner.

There was still time for O’Hare to volley in a third in stoppage time to cap the comeback.

Callum O’Hare netted a brace as Coventry beat Birmingham 2-0 at the CBS Arena.

The former Aston Villa midfielder had not scored for over 18 months after suffering a serious knee injury on Boxing Day last year and was starting just his second game since returning from injury.

The 25-year-old opened the scoring after he was played in by Milan van Ewijk before his superb solo goal made the three points safe in the second half.

O’Hare’s goals also meant Mark Robins’ men claimed their second consecutive home win, moving them above Blues and up to 14th in the table.

Blues’ woes under Wayne Rooney continued as Birmingham were handed their sixth loss in nine games since the former Manchester United striker replaced John Eustace and had John Ruddy to thank that the deficit was kept to one for the majority of the second half.

The visitors had started positively when Coventry failed to clear their lines and Krystian Bielik’s effort was saved by Brad Collins.

Collins had to be on hand again a minute later to keep Juninho Bacuna’s effort at bay.

Coventry started to get a foothold in the game midway through the first half and looked a threat down the right through Van Ewijk, whose cross found O’Hare but his effort was beaten away by Ruddy.

Robins’ side opened the scoring on the half-hour mark when Van Ewijk and O’Hare combined again before the 25-year-old held off the challenge of Lee Buchanan to stab his effort in at the near post in front of over 26,000 spectators in the CBS Arena.

The Sky Blues then had appeals for a penalty waved away when the ball struck Koji Miyoshi on the arm before half-time.

Coventry went in search of a second after the break as Haji Wright had a hat-trick of chances to extend the lead.

Firstly, the American met Van Ewijk’s pinpoint cross but his downward header was comfortable for Ruddy, who then bravely blocked Wright’s second effort with his face a minute later after the forward beat Bacuna down the left.

Ruddy was called into action again when he gathered Wright’s low effort after he cut inside from the left for a second time after O’Hare’s delightful outside-of-the-foot pass.

Van Ewijk was next to test Ruddy’s resolve when his powerful free-kick was clawed away by the former Norwich keeper before Tatsuhiro Sakamato’s effort was also kept out.

O’Hare completed his brace and gave Coventry breathing space on 77 minutes with a superb solo effort.

Dancing across the box, terrified Birmingham defenders watched on as O’Hare blasted in his second to complete a memorable night for the Sky Blues midfielder.

Mark Robins admitted Coventry still need to improve if they are to climb the Championship table following a 1-0 win over Plymouth.

The Sky Blues’ second consecutive win came through record signing Haji Wright, who turned in Milan van Ewijk’s cutback with 15 minutes remaining.

Argyle, who remain without an away win this season, left the CBS Arena furious after they believed the ball had gone out of play in the build-up to Wright’s controversial winner.

“I’m pleased with the win, pleased with the three points,” said Robins.

“I thought we were better in the first half than the second half, I thought we were OK with the ball, we could have just done with a little more zip, bit more oomph.

“We’ve got to be better than we were to climb the table. Three clean sheets on the bounce, we’ve looked a threat more so than we had done previously, although I still think that we have been really unfortunate in terms of results.

“We’ve created good chances again and been a little bit wasteful.

“We need to do things a little bit quicker, we had Franz Beckenbauer playing at centre-half today where they were dribbling with the ball and then losing it where we have to be better than that.

“It’s building blocks at the moment and we’re a way from where we’re going to be, where we want to be. But to get there is a process. There are some really good signs, we play some really good football, we just look a little bit unsure from time to time.

“If that ball had been over the line, the referee would have given it. I don’t think there’s any way that ball was over the line. I have no idea and I don’t care. Those are the things that happen during a season.”

Argyle boss Steven Schumacher claimed the officials had cost his team a chance of a point as they were condemned to their sixth defeat in nine away games this season, despite not playing at their best.

Schumacher said: “Disappointed. I feel like we’re saying this too often coming into these press conferences after games and we’re talking about things we shouldn’t be.

“We should be talking about two teams who give 100 per cent effort to win a game and we’re not once again because of a poor call.

“The linesman is right there, it’s on his side so it’s not as though a post or anything is in his way and in these instances he’s got to get them decisions right because they’ve cost us the game.

“Both sides weren’t at their fluent best, we weren’t and Coventry probably the same and that one decision has been the deciding factor.

“When the linesman says to me at the end of the game only half the ball is out it’s not, clearly.

“Gutted about that but thought the performance wasn’t really our best, we didn’t really show enough quality to score or create enough big chances so that’s on us and something we need to do better at.

“It’s a big call once again that’s gone against us and how many times have I said that over the last few weeks?

“We’re not getting the rub of the green on these big calls and in these big games which are so tight and when we’re up against it against these good teams we need those decisions.”

Mark Robins admitted his disappointment as Coventry salvaged a point against Norwich with a 1-1 draw at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

Ben Gibson’s 88th-minute own goal handed the Sky Blues a point and maintained their unbeaten home start to the season after Jonathan Rowe poked in his sixth of the season before half time.

The Sky Blues had chances to take all three points after Milan van Ewijk and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto had chances to steal all three points in added time.

Robins explained: “We deserved a point very much so, but I think we can be a little bit disappointed that we didn’t go on and win it.

“During the game that’s the first time we feel that we’ve been able to have any sort of meaningful possession, and even though we went behind we knew we were in the game.

“We got in at half-time at 1-0 and we knew we were in the game, well in it. The fact that we were shows that there’s been a significant step forward been taken.

“The fact that we ended up pinning them in for large parts of the second half and especially at the end, when I made the changes, I think that had a benefit because it re-energised us, which was really important.

“The ball into the penalty area for the own goal, the quality on the ball meant that Gibson had to head it and thankfully it hit the back of the net.

“It keeps our unbeaten record at home intact and that’s huge. This point is a big point on the back of the two previous wins, so seven points from three games is really good and we can look forward to building, and hopefully we can start to get a few players back now and hopefully things will start to look a little bit better after the international break.”

Norwich manager David Wagner rued the missed chances that could have seen his side double their lead in the second half as he reflected on a hard-fought point on the road following three consecutive away defeats.

“The result is because we conceded so late, even if I can say I think it was a fair result.” said the former Huddersfield boss. “I was very pleased with how the players execute our idea, to give Coventry a little bit possession, make sure we defend from a low block and be a threat on the transition.

“I think it worked, they put in a real shift. Obviously, you have to defend your crosses and you have to have some blocks but there were no real big chances which I’ve seen over a long period.

“We scored a great counter press goal and had two further golden opportunities from Adam Idah and Liam Gibbs where we have to kill the game, especially in the second half where we had this period of 25-30 minutes where we were very comfortable on the ball, there we have to kill the game and this is unfortunately what we haven’t done.

“If you defend crosses then always a mistake can happen what happened and then you concede a goal and obviously the feeling is totally different even if you have done exactly the same game, exactly the same performance because the outcome is different, but I was pleased with the effort, with the togetherness, with the commitment, it was a hard fought point which they deserved.”