Birmingham City moved back into the top half of the Championship thanks to two early goals against Preston North End.

Jay Stansfield grabbed his 11th goal of the campaign to open the scoring before livewire Ibrahim Osman scored the hosts' second of the night just six minutes later.

Preston pulled one back through Andrew Hughes from close range following a mistake by Birmingham goalkeeper James Beadle.

Both free-wheeling teams had chances to add to the goals during an end-to-end second half, with neither side troubled by promotion or relegation concerns.

Stansfield opened the scoring with his first goal for more than two months when he pounced from close range on 10 minutes.

Birmingham took the initiative thanks to Osman charging down a clearance high up the pitch. The Ghanaian drifted inside, rode a challenge, and drove a shot into the box, with Stansfield snatching the final touch to convert past Daniel Iversen.

Osman added Blues' second soon after - his left-wing corner was only partially cleared by North End, allowing him to collect the loose ball and angle his run into the box before despatching a low shot just inside Iversen's left-hand post.

Blues appeared to be cruising but Preston were not done, reducing their deficit in the 25th minute through Hughes. The centre-half bundled the ball over the line from close range after Alfie Devine's corner was spilled by Beadle.

The visitors should have done better in the opening throes of the second half when Phil Neumann's pass was intercepted by Devine, who ran some distance towards the penalty area, only to see his effort denied by the covering Christoph Klarer.

Beadle, making amends for his earlier error, came to Birmingham's rescue just after the hour mark when he denied Milutin Osmajic with an excellent save, as North End continued to ask questions of Chris Davies' side.

At the other end, Carlos Vicente went close when he turned on the edge of the area and unleashed a low shot, which beat Iversen but struck the woodwork, before being hastily cleared.

August Priske was denied his first Birmingham goal late on after Vicente released a pass into his path following a swift counter-attack. The Dane looked favourite to convert the chance, but was denied by his compatriot Iversen from close range.