Birmingham claimed their first home league victory of the season with a narrow 1-0 triumph over Oxford thanks to Paik Seung-ho’s winner.
The South Korea international struck just before the interval, converting Ethan Laird’s centre to inflict a third successive Sky Bet Championship defeat on Gary Rowett’s outfit.
Paik’s effort was sufficient to separate the two teams and maintain the hosts’ unbeaten start to the campaign.
The visitors had already been beaten by a single goal, and the pattern was extended.
Oxford boss Rowett was making a return to the club where he spent three seasons as a player and managed Birmingham in two different spells.
The last time he was at St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park in a professional capacity was the final day of the 2023-24 campaign when the Blues were relegated to the third tier.
But the club has been rebuilt under new boss Chris Davies and the momentum has carried over into this season.
Oxford’s best moments came during the opening exchanges and it took a fine save from Ryan Allsop to prevent Cameron Brannagan from firing them into a 16th-minute lead with a drive from the edge of the area.
But the clearest chances of the opening half fell to Kyogo Furuhashi.
The Japanese forward, signed from Rennes for an undisclosed fee this summer, was presented with two clear, yet very different, opportunities.
He side-footed wide after Willum Willumsson sliced the U’s defence wide open, and he then nodded over from inside the six-yard box after a cross from the left by Demarai Gray.
Birmingham finally made their pressure count four minutes before the interval.
Laird, deputising at left-back for Alex Cochrane who picked up an injury during last week’s victory at Blackburn, drove down the outside.
Paik hung back as the former Manchester United man crossed low into the area and his first-time shot travelled through a couple of yellow-shirted bodies and across Jamie Cumming into the corner of the net.
After the break, Birmingham dominated possession without creating too much in terms of forcing Cumming into direct action.
Gray saw one fierce drive deflect over the crossbar, but Allsop in the home goal was a virtual spectator until stoppage time when Oxford almost grabbed an equaliser.
Substitute Stan Mills fed the ball in from the right and Mark Harris reacted first, only for his side-foot finish to fly the wrong side of the upright.
The managers
Birmingham’s Chris Davies:
“It was an excellent finish. Paik’s been exceptional since I’ve been here. He works so hard, he gives us so much in the middle, him and Tomoki Iwata.
“But it was in a really nice finish, it was a pass into the goal.
“So many arrive there and try and smash it as hard as they possibly can and it maybe goes over the bar, but he’s obviously seen a gap and he’s passed it firmly into the net. I think he took it really well.
“We’ve been talking about getting him higher up the pitch in certain situations and he has good technical quality off both feet. But he’s got international quality, definitely.”
Oxford’s Gary Rowett:
“I was actually really pleased with a lot of it. I thought we were brave on the ball.
“But you can’t concede a poor goal before half-time against Birmingham. That was disappointing.
“But they are very good at finding spaces, making it hard for you to jump out at them and have much of the game.
“They dominate and make it hard for you. As disappointed as we are with the start to the season, I saw parts that we can build on.
“And we showed we were competitive. We won’t be benchmarked against Birmingham City, I don’t think.”
