1 Aston Villa 0 Birmingham

by Simon Williams at Villa Park

Harry Redknapps ’s first game in charge of Birmingham yesterday ended in a 1-0 away defeat to local rivals Aston Villa in the Second City derby.

The 70-year-old replaced Gianfranco Zola, who resigned following a 2-0 defeat to Burton on Easter Monday, until the end of the season.

But despite Redknapp’s side having the better of the chances to open the scoring, it was Villa substitute Gabriel Agbonlahor that scored the only goal of the game to leave the Blues two points above the bottom three in the Championship with two games remaining.

“I was very encouraged [by the performance],” said Redknapp. “When you look at it [previous results], we’ve won two out of 24 [under Zola]. When you look at that record it scares you to death.

“But I thought we worked really hard and I couldn’t have asked for more effort than what they gave.

“We’ve got two tough games to come. We’ve got Huddersfield next week and we’ve got to make sure that we can try and win the game, but we’ve got every chance of saying up if we keep playing like that.”

Redknapp was also asked about the introduction of match-winner Agbonlahor who has netted his first goal for the Villans in 11 months.

He quipped: “Gabby’s done well today. He’s come on and had 10 minutes. It’ll keep him happy for another year.”

But it was the introduction of fit-again Agbonlahor that ramped up the atmosphere inside Villa Park.

The 30-year-old has missed the last last three months due to a hamstring injury picked up in the 2-2 draw with Preston in January.

And in his first game back the Birmingham-born Villa supporter netted the winning goal on 68 minutes — much to the delight of his manager Steve Bruce.

“When I saw him walking past in the car park at 10 past eight on Friday I thought: ‘Uh oh, he’s trying his best to be fit [for the game]’,” said Bruce.

“He’s had his critics but in the the five months that I’ve been at the club he’s been terrific.”