Steve Bruce last night took one of the most remarkable defeats of his managerial career on the chin by admitting that Birmingahm City's luck finally ran out.

Just as Bruce has admitted that his side have had their fair share of fortune in their storming run of 16 points out of a possible 18, the Blues boss pointed to the heavens above St Mary's and said: "Up there I think we knew it just wasn't our night and sometimes you just have to accept that.

"In football sometimes you don't get your rewards and we've paid the price for too many senior players making mistakes, which you can't do much about.

"Maik Taylor's been terrific for me this season, but he was cleaning windows for their second goal and their fourth one was the sort of schoolboy stuff you wouldn't see on a park pitch, a long ball down the middle and a flick-on.

"But while we didn't get what we might have deserved, if we can keep playing like that and showing the resilience and the appetite that my players showed, then we'll still be there or thereabouts.

"The whole stadium was stunned that we were three down as we'd had a great start and could have even one or two up.

"But when you're three down away from home and you know if you lie down it's going to be an embarrassment, it's just a question of going out and showing a little bit of pride and we did that."

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