Birmingham City’s 2-1 Carling Cup quarter-final victory over bitter city rivals Aston Villa has left more of a legacy than a two-legged semi-final against West Ham.

Crowd trouble afterwards, largely instigated by a pitch invasion from Blues’ fans, has led to an FA inquiry.

The incident overshadowed Blues’ fine victory and the improved form they showed in drawing 1-1 at home to Tottenham last weekend.

 

Hundreds of Birmingham fans ran towards the corner of the St Andrews ground reserved for Villa followers to taunt them after the final whistle, which resulted in ugly-looking scenes and missile-throwing.

In a statement issued the day after the match, the club insisted: “No effort will be spared in Birmingham City Football Club’s efforts to identify individuals who marred the Carling Cup quarter-final victory over Aston Villa.

“Anyone found guilty of any disorder will face stringent action.”

And Blues boss Alex McLeish added: “That’s soured the win for us. I know we haven’t beaten Villa for a while and our fans were treating it almost like a cup final. But this is not something we want to be associated with.”

Sebastian Larsson gave Blues the lead before Gabriel Agbonlahor equalised. Nikola Zigic’s late deflected winner sent the club into the last four.

Another late goal gave Blues a share of the spoils four days later when Craig Gardner’s header equalised against Tottenham.

Birmingham are now 14^th in the EPL, three points above the drop zone ahead of this Sunday lunchtime’s trip to Midlands rivals Wolves.