Irish international Kenny Cunningham was sent off as Birmingham tumbled to a 2-1 defeat against Newcastle United in the FA Premier League Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur.
The 31-year-old was red-carded for a professional foul, after Craig Bellamy was brought down in the box after 35 minutes. Alan Shearer converted the resultant penalty to give the Magpies a one-goal advantage.
The decison, by referee Rob Styles, left players and officials from both sides stunned, with Kieron Dyer even approaching the official to plead clemency.
Cunningham left the field to polite applause from the local crowd, who were quickly on their feet to cheer Shearer's perfect penalty, slammed to the rightof Birmingham goalkeeper Ian Bennett.
But Birmingham came out fighting after half time and won themselves a penalty with 19 minutes remaining which Paul Devlin converted to level proceedings.
Their advantage only lasted a matter of three minutes, though, as Ameobi climbed high above the defence to head the winner and book Newcastle a spot in Sunday's final against either Chelsea or the Malaysian national team.
The competition is the first officially-sanctioned Premier League tournament overseas.