Birmingham 2 Wolves 1:TO THINK that Carson Yeung used his programme notes to apologise for failing to bring in a striker during the transfer window. The Birmingham City owner need not have worried.

Forget Roman Pavlyuchenko, Ryan Babel, Kenwyne Jones, Kevin Kuranyi and any other high-profile name they were unable to land. Two goals from Kevin Phillips in the final 10 minutes suggested there is a solution much closer to home.

The centre-forward came off the substitutes’ bench to turn this West Midlands derby on its head and, in the process, provided a gentle reminder to Alex McLeish, the Birmingham manager, that age is nothing but a number. Now 36, the second oldest outfield player in the Premier League showed that the passage of time has done nothing to erode his touch in front of goal as he pounced twice to vanquish Wolvers.

The travelling supporters must have feared what was coming from the moment he was introduced. Phillips has been Wolves’ nemesis in the past, scoring twice for Southampton against them when they were last in the Premier League, and four times for West Brom during the 2006-07 season. “Players have clubs that they always score against and Wolves must be sick of the sight of me,” said Phillips.

Birmingham were chasing the game after going behind to Kevin Doyle’s first-half goal and running out of ideas but in the 80th minute when two substitutes, Kevin Fahey and Craig Gardner, combined to set up another, and Phillips converted at the near post. Wolves were reeling from that setback when the former England international struck again five minutes later.

Guardian Service