Wade Elliott has given Birmingham City a 1-0 lead over Bristol City after 45 minutes at Ashton Gate.
It was a tight opening 15 minutes, with neither side creating any real goalscoring opportunities.
The closest anyone came to breaking the deadlock was when Shane Ferguson found Nikola Zigic with a ball into the box, but the Serbian's header was well saved by Tom Heaton.
However, the Blues fans did not have to wait much longer for the breakthrough, which came through Elliott.
He found the net after some dazzling footwork from Nathan Redmond helped create the chance.
Zigic thought that he had doubled the visitors' lead in the 36th minute, only for it to be ruled out for offside.
City threatened to level the score late in the half as Steven Davies thrashed the ball across the face of the goal, but Sam Baldock was unable to divert it into the net.
Redmond then showed more trickery as he slalomed his way in from the right before unleashing a shot that was saved by Heaton.
Michael Penkman
