Preston take advantage of Horsfield's red rage

The greater ambition of Craig Brown's Preston North End was the undoing of Birmingham City on a bad night for the Premiership side. They may not mourn their exit from a competition in which they had little interest but will regret the red card and three-match ban picked up by Geoff Horsfield for the violent use of an elbow midway through the first half, after which their First Division visitors took advantage with goals by Ricardo Fuller and Eddie Lewis.

Steve Bruce, the Birmingham manager, had made no pretence about where the Worthington Cup fits among his scheme of things, admitting before last night that staying in the Premiership was his priority. He made seven changes, which among other things allowed Horsfield to make his first start for two months.

It was a chance the unsettled striker, captain for the night, had declared himself eager to seize, which made it all the more hard to understand the assault on the defender Graham Alexander that earned him his 28th-minute red card. Having seen Horsfield fling out an elbow as he tried to wriggle free from the Preston man, referee Graham Poll had no option but instant dismissal, leaving Bruce less than amused. "It has not only cost us the match but Geoff will not be available to us now for three games," he said. "With the size of squad we have, we cannot afford to lose players like that."

The best chances of a mediocre first half fell to the home side none the less, Chris Lucketti hacking a Stan Lazaridis cross over his own crossbar and Clinton Morrison drawing a save from David Lucas with a sharp shot on the turn. Early in the second half, Darryl Powell blazed wastefully over the bar from 10 yards. But the depleted home side's hopes of retaining a grip were rocked by Preston's opening goal after 58 minutes.

Brown had been reluctant to risk Fuller after the Jamaican suffered a knee injury in last weekend's win over Burnley but was grateful the striker passed a late fitness test when he pounced to claim his eighth goal of the season, beating Olivier Tébily to Lewis's low cross and driving past Bennett from close range.

It was a lead they looked capable of comfortably defending but a second goal 12 minutes from time ensured their victory. Paul McKenna found Lewis in space on the edge of the area, the American striking a low left-foot shot into the bottom corner of Bennett's goal.

Birmingham City (4-4-2): Bennett; Tébily, Hutchinson, Cunningham, Sadler (Fagan, h-t); Hughes, Carter (Kirovski, 63), Powell, Lazaridis; Morrison, Horsfield. Substitutes not used: Vaesen (gk), Devlin, John.

Preston North End (4-4-2): Lucas; Alexander, Lucketti (Murdock, 71), Broomes, Edwards; Mears (Cresswell, 59), Etuhu, McKenna, Lewis; Fuller (Rankine, 81), Healy. Substitutes not used: Moilanen (gk), Jackson.

Referee: G Poll (Tring).