Jay Stansfield marked his emotional return to Exeter with a goal as third-placed Birmingham ran out comfortable 2-0 winners at St James Park.

The lifelong Exeter fan started his career with the Devon club, where his late father Adam also played before his death at the age of 31, but there was no room for sentiment on his first appearance against his former side.

Birmingham went in front in the 11th minute when an Exeter clearance went as far as Tomoki Iwata 20 yards out. He took the ball down on his chest and drilled a precise shot through a cluster of bodies and into the bottom corner.

It was one-way traffic with Blues in complete control and they almost added a second, but Willum Willumsson headed a great chance wide from close range.

Exeter goalkeeper Joe Whitworth made a brilliant instinctive save on the stroke of half-time when a Birmingham shot deflected off Tristan Crama and looked set for the bottom corner.

Exeter did not lay a glove on the dominant Blues and the second half continued in the same vain.

But it took until the 83rd minute to wrap up the points as Stansfield scored from the spot following Ilmari Niskanen’s handball inside the box.