Wolves 0 Birmingham 1:THE WOLVES owner, Steve Morgan, may have promised to keep faith with Mick McCarthy but a growing number of Wolves faithful seem pretty certain the manager has taken them as far as he can. A second-half strike from the prone Wade Elliott was enough for Birmingham City of the Championship to end the Premier League club's participation in the FA Cup, a defeat which means Wolves have now failed to win any of their last nine games.

Defender Christophe Berra was the only man to retain his place from McCarthy’s team against Spurs last Saturday, which meant a rare start for Kevin Doyle – unquestionably Wolves’ player of the previous two seasons – up front. Doyle may get a lot more games if Wolves receive the sort of offer they cannot turn down for Steven Fletcher, the man who has moved ahead of the Irishman in the Molineux pecking order.

Birmingham manager Chris Hughton also rotated his squad, making six changes to the team who defeated Millwall 6-0. The 17-year-old winger Nathan Redmond, the subject of interest from Arsenal and Liverpool, started but that there was no place in the squad for Liam Ridgewell may suggest West Bromwich Albion will not have to increase their offer by much to receive a positive response.

A small but noisy crowd saw Wolves make and miss the first chance, Adam Hammill twisting clear down the right and putting in a cross which Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, under pressure, contrived to head wide from no more than six yards. The right flank was an occasionally productive channel for the home team and a Matt Doherty cross almost gave Ebanks-Blake a chance to atone for his earlier miss.

A clash of heads between team-mates David Murphy and Jean Beausejour briefly reduced Birmingham to nine men, and having survived, they should have taken the lead. Berra unaccountably allowed a hopeful punt to fall over his head, allowing Adam Rooney to run clear on goal. The former Inverness Caledonian Thistle forward delayed his shot long enough for George Elokobi to get in a challenge.

Berra was similarly lax in allowing Curtis Davies to escape his attentions and bring a decent save from Dorus de Vries with a header shortly before half-time. Jonathan Spector drove just wide as Birmingham ended the first half on top.

The Blues continued to have the better of it after the break. McCarthy will have been disappointed that Jordon Mutch was allowed to run from deep before driving in a low shot which De Vries parried, but Doherty was unlucky when his fierce shot from outside the area was deflected straight into the hands of Colin Doyle.

The sight of Fletcher warming up shortly after the hour mark drew warm applause from the crowd and may have served a purpose in encouraging the Wolves players to up their efforts. Eggert Jonsson’s firm shot was saved by Doyle, the Icelanders’ last contribution before being replaced by Adlene Guedioura, but not long after Fletcher was introduced Birmingham took the lead. The goal was as messy as much of the game, in that Elliott was on the floor, having seen his first attempt to turn in a corner hit the post, when the ball was poked back towards him by Murphy. The former Burnley player swung a foot, and got enough on the ball to turn it past De Vries.

It took Wolves until the 88th minute to threaten an equaliser but Doyle produced a final double save to keep out Fletcher and Stephen Hunt.

WOLVES: De Vries, Doherty (Ward 83), Stearman, Berra, Elokobi, Hammill, Jonsson (Guedioura 67), Milijas, Hunt, Doyle (Fletcher 72), Ebanks-Blake. Subs not used: Hennessey, Henry, Keogh, Forde. Booked: Berra.

BIRMINGHAM CITY: Doyle, Spector, Caldwell, Davies, Murphy, Redmond (Burke 76), Elliott, Mutch, Gomis (Fahey 90), Beausejour, Rooney. Subs not used: Butland, King, Zigic, Valles, Gnahore.

Referee: Howard Webb (S Yorkshire).

REVISED DRAW

Fourth round

Brighton v Newcastle Utd

Sunderland v Middlesbrough

Millwall v Southampton

Hull City v Crawley Town

QPR v Chelsea

West Brom v Norwich City

Blackpool v Sheffield Wednesday

Arsenal v Aston Villa

Stevenage v Notts County

Watford v Tottenham Hotspur

Liverpool v Manchester Utd

Derby County v Stoke City

Everton v Fulham

Bolton Wanderers v Swansea City

Sheffield Utd v Birmingham City

Leicester City v Swindon Town

(Ties to be played on the weekend of January 28th-29th)