Blackburn swiftly erased the heartache of their surprise UEFA Cup exit with a fourth successive victory against Birmingham.

The in-form David Bentley scored his third goal in four matches to set Rovers on their way before Benni McCarthy converted a 55th-minute penalty.

Cameron Jerome offered City hope midway through the second period but it is now four games without a win for Steve Bruce's side.

They created just one opportunity in the opening half, arriving just before the half hour when Medhi Nafti - sporting strapping to his left hand after earlier slipping on the greasy surface - played in Jerome.

Jerome had timed his run to perfection to beat the offside trap, but with only Brad Friedel to beat he failed to even hit the target, smacking his shot against the advertising hoardings behind the goal.

Other than that, Rovers' American goalkeeper Brad Friedel had little to do to help preserve his side's 15th-minute lead as Bentley maintained his fine run of form.

Now an England international, the midfielder had twice previously created chances, although both were wide of the right-hand post.

But then, after receiving a low ball into the area from former Blues midfielder David Dunn with his back to goal, Bentley spun away from his marker by taking two touches with his right foot before firing home with his left from 12 yards.

After Rovers had a shout for a penalty turned down by referee Mark Clattenburg after centre-back Johan Djourou appeared to shove Roque Santa Cruz to the ground, they went on to finish the half the stronger.

Two sweeping moves followed with Stephen Warnock first flashing a diving header across the face of goal in the 36th minute, Brett Emerton inches away from poking home the ball.

Six minutes later a remarkable run from centre-back Christopher Samba culminated in him forcing a clutch save from Taylor after Brett Emerton and Dunn had played their part in the attack.

Within 20 seconds of the restart Bentley was denied his second when Franck Queudrue cleared his sidefoot shot off the line.

The game then turned in the space of a minute with City's Gary McSheffrey initially having a goal ruled out for offside after sidefooting home from close range.

On the counter Santa Cruz had his legs taken away by Djourou as he tried to turn inside the centre-back and this time Clattenburg immediately pointed to the spot, despite strong protests.

McCarthy, on as a half-time substitute for Dunn, stroked the penalty past a wrong-footed Taylor for his second league goal of the season, and first since September 2.

At 2-0 the game appeared beyond City who had scored just once in their previous five matches.

But they gave themselves a lifeline when Jerome thumped a 12-yard half-volley into the roof of the net in the 68th minute for his third of the season.

Following Thursday night's aggregate loss in the UEFA Cup to Greek Cup holders Larissa, this was a game Rovers could not afford to let slip.

Santa Cruz and Bentley both went close to making the points safe as the game turned into an end-to-end encounter.

Instead, Blackburn were indebted to Friedel for turning over the bar a back header from Olivier Kapo in the first minute of injury time, so keeping Blackburn riding high in the Barclays Premier League.