Birmingham City got back to winning ways on Saturday as they beat Reading 3-2 at the Madejski Stadium to go within four points of the play-offs.

An own goal from former player Michael Morrison gave Blues the lead and even though the Royals equalised quickly, second half goals from new signing Jeremie Bela and Alvaro Gimenez sealed what was an impressive win, with Lucas Joao grabbing a late consolation for the hosts.

Pep Clotet made a few tweaks to the side following a poor recent run and Blues responded in the right fashion.

The focus will now be on successive home games in the space of a few days against QPR and West Brom but we now look back at THREE things we learnt about Birmingham following their vital win in Berkshire...

Josh McEachran can have a big role to play

McEachran was handed his first start since signing for Blues and he responded with a classy performance.

The ex-Brentford man helped Blues control the tempo and dominate possession with his excellent passing range and his partnership with Ivan Sunjic gave Clotet's men the platform to cause problems in the final third.

The midfield had a nice balance to it

Goals have been a big problem for Birmingham and this was the first time they'd scored more than twice this season, with the attacking threat because of the balance the midfield had.

As mentioned, Sunjic and McEachran worked well together and that allowed Jude Bellingham to operate further forward - something he did to devastating effect.

With quick wide men in Jeremie Bela and Jacques Maghoma for much of the game, Blues had a great balance and a real cutting edge for once.

The team can cope with setbacks

However, this wasn't all straightforward for the visitors, who lost two influential players in the opening 30 minutes because of injury in Jake Clarke-Salter and Danny Crowley.

Yet, to their credit, Blues didn't let it impact them and carried on playing their game and deservedly ran out winners.