Revitalised Wanderers took their play-off push up another level as they brushed aside the league leaders with another inspired comeback, writes Pete Oliver.
For the third home game running under Steven Schumacher, the Whites overcame a deficit to take maximum points and rack up a fourth successive win at the Toughsheet Community Stadium.
And this was the most impressive yet as run-away table-toppers Birmingham – unbeaten in 18 league games and having not conceded a goal in five league games – had no answer to the Wanderers’ charge.
Once John McAtee had equalised just before half-time with his 11th goal of the season there was only going to be one winner as Schumacher’s men went on to dominate the second half with a power-packed display.
Returning skipper George Thomason nudged Wanderers ahead and top scorer Aaron Collins then got in on the act with the clinching third goal which confirmed only Birmingham's third league loss of the campaign and continued the Wanderers’ resurgence with potentially their most significant win of the season.
With Wanderers making four changes to their starting line-up there were opportunities for both Chris Forino and Carlos Mendes Gomes following their long absences due to injury.
Forino started his first game since September alongside the re-called Eoin Toal in defence, while the return of Mendes Gomes ended a year-long wait for a start in League One.
There was also a tactical re-shuffle with the wing-backs re-introduced and it was one of them, Jordi Osei-Tutu, who had the first chance of the game.
The wideman was Wanderers’ most potent weapon in the early stages and after using his pace to accept a pass from Collins and burst into the Birmingham box he forced Bailey Peacock-Farrell – also starting his first league game since September – into a sharp save with his legs.
Wanderers found it hard to impose any prolonged pressure, though, against a City side that bore the confidence and composure of a side sitting pretty at the top of the table on the back of an 18-match unbeaten league run.
The visitors showed flashes of quality and mid-way through the first half they opened up the Wanderers’ defence to take the lead.
Taylor Gardner-Hickman had scored the Blues’ winner in their summit meeting with Wycombe at the weekend and this time he was the provider with a right-wing cross which reached Emil Hansson to sweep in at the far post.
City looked to have a measure of control at that point but Schumacher has breathed new belief into the Whites and they began another comeback six minutes before the break when the in-form McAtee struck again.
One of the Whites’ best moves of the half saw Mendes Gomes feed Josh Dacres-Cogley and when the former Birmingham man released McAtee, the striker raced on and buried a shot past Peacock-Farrell at his near post to claim a fourth goal in as many games.
That goal lifted the confidence levels and in a superb start to the second half Wanderers then deservedly went in front.
After Aaron Morley had seen a shot blocked in front of goal it was his free-kick – won by the ever-dangerous Osei-Tutu – that was headed back across goal and then nodded on by McAtee for Thomason to volley home from close range.
Gardner-Hickman was then lucky to avoid a second yellow card for another foul on Osei-Tutu and was quickly whipped off by boss Chris Davies after again impeding the Wanderers’ man.
City were on the ropes and as Wanderers went for the kill Collins lifted an effort over the top from a well-worked corner routine before the Blues made a double change in a bid to reverse the tide as big-money buy Jay Stansfield and ex-Wanderers’ loanee Lukas Jutkiewicz formed a new-look attack.
Schumacher countered it with a change of his own as Joel Randall replaced the tiring Mendes Gomes, who could be proud of his night’s work, and it was the Wanderers’ substitute who made the immediate impact.
Collecting a flick-on from Collins, Randall returned the compliment with a return pass for the Whites’ leading scorer who turned in the box and planted a cool finish beyond Peacock-Farrell to claim his 16th goal of the season with 20 minutes to go.
It was no more than Wanderers - now unbeaten in five games - deserved for a stunning second-half performance which saw the champions-elect out-classed and Schumacher’s men breathing down the necks of the top six again.
Wanderers: Southwood; Toal, Forino, Johnston; Dacres-Cogley, Thomason (Matete 90), Morley (Sheehan 90), Osei-Tutu; Mendes Gomes (Randall 68), Collins; McAtee (Lolos 84). Substitutes: Baxter, Murphy, Schön.
Booked: Morley, McAtee, Osei-Tutu, Johnston, Forino
Birmingham City: Peacock-Farrell; Klarer, Davies, Cochrane; Gardner-Hickman (Sampsted 56), Iwata (Bielik 80), Seung-Ho, Hansson; Dowell (Jutkiewicz, 67), Willumsson; May (Stansfield, 67). Substitutes: Mayo, Harris, Hanley.
Booked: Gardner-Hickman, Klarer
Referee: Thomas Kirk
Attendance: 23,023 (3,472 Birmingham)