Wanderers' fans woke up today to the realisation that the fight for Premiership survival could now be a four-horse race writes Gordon Sharrock

Birmingham's 2-0 win at Aston Villa last night, a local derby blighted by trouble on and off the field, took Steve Bruce's Blues six points clear of the pack - a significant lead at such an important stage of the season.

It effectively left Wanderers slugging it out with West Ham, West Brom and Sunderland in a desperate battle to beat the drop and the horrific financial implications of returning to the Nationwide League.

And with Glenn Roeder's Hammers confirming their return to form with a second successive victory at home to Spurs at the weekend, the pressure is on Sam Allardyce to fashion a sequence of results over the remaining 10 games - starting at Liverpool on Saturday - to keep them out of the bottom three.

Birmingham's Villa Park victory, which came by way of goals from Stan Lazaridis and substitute Geoff Horsfield, is a major boost to Bruce's hopes of keeping the Blues in the top flight but it came at a price with goalkeeper Nico Vaesen expected to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.

Vaesen had climbed off his sick bed after suffering from a bout of tonsillitis but with barely two minutes remaining the Belgian's leg became caught in the Villa Park turf, after he had cleared a back pass upfield, with disastrous consequences.

Vaesen's lengthy absence means the long-serving Ian Bennett is set to get another chance to play Premiership footballl.