At St. Andrews

13th May 2001

Att: 29,072

Eaden, who played for Barnsley in the Tykes' shock four-goal win at the same stage of last season's play-off battle, fired the only goal of a tight game to reward good Birmingham pressure at the start of the second half.

Eaden pounced to fire home from eight yards after Marcelo's effort on the turn was blocked as David Moyes' side were guilty of defending too deeply after Peter Atherton launched a straightforward free-kick into the North End penalty area.

That was the only error of the afternoon by the tough-tackling Preston defence. Whether it denies them a trip to Cardiff for the Whitsun Bank Holiday final will become clear in four evenings' time.

Considering the stakes on offer, several periods of the game were very low key. The main early incidents were bookings for the two captains in the first seven minutes of the game.

Sean Gregan was cautioned after just 72 seconds for a foul on Geoff Horsfield, who had turned away from Colin Murdock on half-way. That was a harsh start for the Preston skipper, but Birmingham captain Martin O'Connor had little argument after his late challenge on Lee Cartwright soon after.

The more in-form partnership going into the play-offs was the 31-goal Preston pair of David Healy and Jonathan Macken, and it was Healy who forced the first real save of the day in the 11th minute.

Gregan was not letting his early misdemeanour affect his game and he found a clever ball over the defence. The Northern Irishman was sharp enough to stretch only for Bennett to save. Then midway through the half a rare piece of miscontrol by Healy lost a fine opportunity after a well-flighted chip from Paul McKenna.

In the 16th minute the ball struck Rob Edwards' hand inside the penalty area from a Marcelo header - but there was little danger of a penalty being given.

Gregan covered magnificently as Darren Purse looked to head in Eaden's 23rd minute cross, but that was a rare good moment for Birmingham who looked lacking in confidence from several good wide positions.

Macken was unlucky that an Ian Bennett clearance that struck the forward did not rebound into a favourable position, before he caused Purse real problems after 27 minutes when both chased a pass forward, and went down. Referee Pugh adjudged Macken to have fouled the Blues' defender but the decision could easily have gone the other way.

Birmingham's strikers have not been as prolific, with only 14 league goals between them this season. The partnership briefly clicked when Marcelo's chested pass gave Horsfield possession on the edge of the area on the half hour mark. Birmingham's record signing went too easily past the back-pedalling Ryan Kidd but David Lucas was able to smother the angled effort.

Marcelo hit the bar with a fine header from Stan Lazaridis' 48th minute cross, and the unlucky Brazilian could have doubled the advantage after 71 minutes when he stabbed wide from point-blank range after Horsfield's header had been too hot for goalkeeper David Lucas to handle.

Bennett had little real work to do in the second period. Alexander's 68th minute corner was skimmed wide by the head of  Kidd, and a much better header by Healy was well-saved seven minutes later.

Curtis Woodhouse, playing as an emergency left-back with the injury to Martin Grainger and suspension of David Burrows, went down heavily on his ankle at the start of the second half, but recovered to keep a tight reign on Cartwright before limping off with seven minutes left.

Woodhouse's commitment to the Birmingham cause - as well as O'Connor who was taken off with a calf strain - may be crucially missed at Deepdale on Thursday.

Birmingham should have been going to Lancashire with a two-goal lead, but Purse somehow put a six-yard header wide with nine minutes remaining.