Johnson sends Eagles soaring

Goal scorer Crystal Palace's Andy Johnson runs with the ball. The former Birmingham striker returned to haunt his old club as Crystal Palace stole a 1-0 victory at St Andrews here.

Former Birmingham striker Andy Johnson returned to haunt his old club as Crystal Palace stole a 1-0 victory at St Andrews here.

Birmingham dominated the match between the two English Premiership strugglers but Johnson scored with the Eagles' only shot on target to gift them their first away victory back in the top flight.

Wayne Routledge's breakaway from a Blues corner set up in-form Johnson for his eighth Premiership goal of the season in the 41st minute.

Johnson played down his chances of a first England call-up ahead of the friendly in Spain on November 17.

"I'm just going to try and carry on scoring," the 23-year-old told Sky Sports.

"If anything happens, it's a bonus for me. I just want to keep doing it week in, week out in the Premiership."

Eagles manager Iain Dowie felt Johnson's performance was just reward for his hard work in training refining his goalscoring touch.

"He is precious to us and that's why we've signed him on a five year deal. He's the real epitome of what we're about. He's a fantastic pro who wants to be the best he can be," the former Palace striker said.

"Technically we didn't get our passing game going to anywhere near the level we'd want to but our defending and our heart and soul was there for all to see.

"We managed to dig out a result and sometimes you need that. We're a million miles from being the finished product.

"It's only 11 points from 11 games. It's going to be very difficult this year, there's a lot of sides scrambling down there," he added on the south London side's battle to stay in Premiership.

Wales' Robbie Savage and Northern Ireland's Michael Hughes clashed for the first time since their 2006 World Cup qualifier altercation in September when both were dismissed nine minutes into the 2-2 draw following a terrible tackle by Hughes.

Birmingham's Savage made his point, clattering into Hughes at the first opportunity.

The home side failed to convert a string of chances and dominated possession of the ball, but the Eagles caught them with a sucker-punch just before half time.

Birmingham's Denmark winger Jesper Gronkjaer tested Gabor Kiraly 18 minutes in, cutting into the box from the right and unleashing a fierce drive but the Hungary goalkeeper punched out the shot.

Savage's 37th-minute free kick evaded Kiraly, finding Dwight Yorke and Mario Melchiot getting in each other's way at the far post.

The two diverted the ball goalwards with Kiraly stranded, but man-of-the-match defender Fitz Hall, on the line, dived across to head the ball clear.

Despite dictating the play, Birmingham were caught out after losing possession from a corner.

Routledge controlled a loose pass by Damien Johnson and charged into the Birmingham half as the Blues defenders scrambled back.

His perfectly measured pass set up Johnson, who continued into the box before shooting across Maik Taylor, the ball rolling in off the the Northern Ireland goalkeeper's right post.

Savage had a shot blocked in a goalmouth scramble and Melchiot volleyed across the face of goal in injury time but Palace hung on doggedly to ease themselves away from the foot of the Premiership table.