The Sky Blues secured their place in the semi-finals of the Birmingham Senior Cup courtesy of a hard fought 1-0 victory over Stourbridge.

A second half strike from Chris Birchall was enough to clinch a place in the last four of the cup and throws up a mouth-watering clash against Birmingham City.

Tim Flowers named a young side to face Stourbridge in the fourth round of the Birmingham Senior Cup with the notable exceptions of Adam Virgo and Birchall.

The Sky Blues started the game brightly and within two minutes Andy Gooding turned his shot wide from the edge of the six-yard box after some good work out wide from Birchall.

Eight minutes later Stourbridge created their first opportunity of the match when Sam Rook hit a powerful shot from the edge of the area and with City keeper Cameron Belford beaten, the diminutive striker could only watch as his shot went inches wide.

The Sky Blues were enjoying the majority of the possession and were spreading the ball around the pitch well considering the arduous conditions.

City took the lead on 64 minutes when Birchall received the ball on the perimeter of the penalty area and the Trinidad and Tobago international unleashed a thunderous shot which ricocheted off the underside of the crossbar and creeped over the line.

Moments later the Sky Blues made a double substitution with first-team hopefuls Virgo and Birchall making way for Liam Francis and Dave Burtoft. It was a good run out for the duo and will give Iain Dowie a number of options to ponder ahead of Saturday's game against Hull.

The goal gave Tim Flowers' side renewed confidence and with 67 minutes on the clock Ange Lorougnon forced the Stourbridge keeper into an excellent save with a ferociously struck low drive from inside the area.

With less than 20 minutes to go the non-league outfit pushed on for an equaliser and Belford was called into action on 73 minutes. The young keeper pushed a long range shot round the post and from the resulting corner a goal mouth melee emerged and Francis cleared off the line.

The promising shot stopper was alert to the danger moments later when Bellingham connected well with a corner and Belford displayed good agility to push the header over the bar.

Speaking exclusively to Sky Blues World after the game, Tim Flowers reflected on a good performance by the youngsters.

"I was very happy with the result tonight," said Tim. "Everybody worked tremendously hard and it was not played in the easiest of conditions so it was a battle for most of the 90 minutes.

"We played some nice stuff in the second half and passed the ball well so there were pluses to come out of it."

The semi-final against Birmingham City will take place on Wednesday March 14 at Solihull Borough FC, kick-off 7pm.

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