THE burning question of the day as far as Wanderers fans were concerned was how their team would respond after the bitter disappointment of their Carling Cup Final defeat as they returned to Premiership action at St Andrew's.

Sam Allardyce admitted he had been hit hard by the Millennium Stadium defeat at the hands of Middlesbrough, who themselves had struggled to overcome the emotion of the occasion when they were beaten 3-1 on this ground on Wednesday night.

Everything pointed to this being a pivotal point of the season as Wanderers, with 34 points from 26 games, in a position from which they could relaunch their bid for a top six finish while having still not distanced themselves from the danger zone.

Sam Allardyce made just one change to his cup final line-up -- Emerson Thome, who had that torrid start at Cardiff, making way for Anthony Barness.

Birmingham: Maik Taylor, Tebily, Cunningham, Martin Taylor, Upson, Johnson, Clemence, Savage, Hughes, Forssell, Morrison. Subs: Cisse, John, Purse, Kenna, Bennett.

Wanderers: Jaaskelainen, Hunt, N'Gotty, Charlton, Barness, Frandsen, Campo, Okocha, Nolan, Davies, Djorkaeff. Subs: Stelios, Pedersen, Ba, Howey, Poole.

Referee: Andy D'Urso (Billericay, Essex).

15:56: BIRMINGHAM 1, WANDERERS 0.

Half-time

MIKAEL Forssell -- the man Sam Allardyce described as "one of the best strikers in the Premiership" -- added to Wanderers' woes when he gave Birmingham a 23rd minute lead in a first half the travelling Bolton fans would prefer to forget.

The Finland striker punished Wanderers for some untidy defending with a tame looking shot that his fellow countryman Jussi Jaaskelainen appeared to have covered but was only able to palm over the line. It was the third game in a row that Forssell had scored against his international team-mate.

As Allardyce feared, Wanderers did not seem to have overcome the disappointment of their Carling Cup Final defeat.

They struggled to get into any sort of rhythm and it took only two minutes for the manager to show his concern by racing from his seat in the directors' box to berate his players for their sloppy start.

Things did not get much better with the Birmingham defence having little to concern themselves with.

16:57: BIRMINGHAM 2, WANDERERS 0.

STAR turns Youri Djorkaeff and Jay-Jay Okocha failed to go the distance as Wanderers struggled to shake off the disappointment of their Carling Cup Final defeat with a miserable performance at St Andrew's.

Djorkaeff walked off, apparently injured, just two minutes into the second half and Okocha was replaced by Ibrahim Ba in a tactical substitution after just 63 minutes, walking straight to the dressing room and only stopping to sign a couple of autographs.

The captain's unhappy demeanour as he left the field summed up Wanderers' sorry show as they went down to goals from Mikael Forssell on 23 minutes and Bryan Hughes in the 69th.

They offered little in reply, although Simon Charlton was denied a goal against his former club when Maik Taylor pulled off a smart reaction save to keep out his 78th minute close range shot.

Birmingham: Maik Taylor, Tebily, Cunningham, Martin Taylor, Upson, Johnson, Clemence, Savage, Hughes, Forssell, Morrison. Subs: Cisse for Clemence 77 mins, Kenna for Johnson 88 mins, John for Forssell 86 mins. Not used: Purse, Bennett.

Wanderers: Jaaskelainen, Hunt, N'Gotty, Charlton, Barness, Frandsen, Campo, Okocha, Nolan, Davies, Djorkaeff. Subs: Pedersen for Djorkaeff 47 mins, Ba for Okocha 63 mins,Stelios for Frandsenm 49 mins. Not used: Howey, Poole.

Referee: Andy D'Urso (Billericay, Essex).

Attendance: 28,003.