Cardiff City have maintained their push for automatic promotion to the Premier League with a battling 1-0 victory over Birmingham City at St Andrew's.

The home side started well, but struggled to break the resilient Bluebirds down. Nathan Redmond came closest to opening the scoring, but he was twice denied by David Marshall.

It was Cardiff who took the lead with four minutes of the first half remaining.

Joe Mason was on hand to tap in from close range after Jack Butland had palmed away Craig Conway's initial effort.

Matthew Connolly thought that he had doubled Cardiff's lead moments after half time, only for Curtis Davies to hack the ball off the line.

The visitors did an excellent job of containing the Blues in the second half and went on to secure all three points.

Malky Mackay's men have won four games in a row and are now seven points clear at the top of the Championship.