The 29-year-old, who spent three seasons with Birmingham before he was sold to Crystal Palace in August 2005, headed home from a corner eight minutes after the half-time break on Monday night.

But Coventry's man of the match was undoubtedly goalkeeper Keiren Westwood who made several superb saves in the second half to deny Birmingham and leave them four points behind league leaders Wolves.

Blues boss Alex McLeish gave a debut to on-loan Bolton defender Nicky Hunt as he made three changes from the side which lost 1-0 to QPR.

Coventry manager Chris Coleman made two changes to the team which drew 1-1 at Southampton as Leon Best and Jay Tabb were recalled at the expense of Freddy Eastwood and Michael Doyle.

And it was the visitors who had the first chance in the third minute of a lively opening period when Aron Gunnarsson crossed from the left flank but Best could only direct his header straight at goalkeeper Maik Taylor from close range.

Birmingham immediately hit on the counter-attack and Larsson forced a smart save from Westwood at his near post.

Kevin Phillips then had a great opportunity to open the scoring in the 12th minute when Franck Queudrue glanced on a Larsson corner.

The ball dropped to Phillips inside the six-yard box but he was unable to get a clean strike at goal and Westwood collected.

Morrison struck the crossbar moments later with a thunderous strike after Tabb had cleverly set him up 10 yards out following Michael Mifsud's low cross from the right.

Coleman's side had a good claim for a penalty turned down eight minutes before the half-time interval when Liam Ridgewell impeded the run of Morrison but referee Tony Bates waved away the appeals of the Sky Blues players.

Coventry began the second half positively and Morrison gave them the lead in the 53rd minute with a neat finish from close range.

Daniel Fox delivered a dangerous inswinging corner which was flicked on by Guillaume Beuzelin into the six-yard box to Morrison who held off the attentions of Ridgewell to head past Taylor.

Ridgewell almost levelled three minutes later with a similar chance to the Coventry goal when McFadden flicked on but Westwood made a fine save to palm the ball to safety.

The visitors sat on their lead and McFadden stung the fingers of Westwood with a swerving shot from distance in the 68th minute.

Two minutes later the Scotland international striker curled a teasing ball into the area but neither substitute Marcus Bent nor Queudrue could get a touch.

Coventry had a golden opportunity to double their advantage with a beautifully worked move on the counter-attack in the 76th minute.

Best broke down the right flank and Beuzelin's clever back-heel found the late run of Tabb but the midfielder smashed his shot over the bar with only Taylor to beat.

Westwood continued to perform heroics in the Coventry goal when he saved brilliantly from a Rahdi Jaidi header three minutes later.

Birmingham thought they had equalised in the 83rd minute when a corner deflected off Queudrue and appeared to cross the line but Westwood gathered and the assistant referee ruled in Coventry's favour.

The Blues continued to press in the dying stages and Larsson was guilty of missing a good chance as the visitors held on to claim only their second away win of the season.