Birmingham 1 Bolton 0: Olivier Kapo earned Steve Bruce's side their first home win of the season in the bottom six battle at St Andrews.
The former Juventus striker settled the issue eight minutes from half-time when he turned home a cross from Sebastian Larsson. Blues deserved their second success of the season but Bolton remained anchored in the relegation zone after losing for the fifth time in six matches.
A near full house of 28,000 responded to a performance of full-blooded commitment and passion from the home side.
City held the edge for long periods and posed the greater threat through the runs and crossing of Larsson and the pace of Cameron Jerome.
The midfield duo of Mehdi Nafti and Fabrice Muamba worked tirelessly for the 90 minutes and at the back Liam Ridgewell and Johan Djourou kept a tight rein on Nicolas Anelka.
The Totters' biggest threat was posed by El-Hadji Diouf, who enjoyed his customary love-hate relationship with the opposing fans, but he lacked sufficient support.
Birmingham broke the deadlock after 37 minutes through Kapo's second goal of the campaign.
Larsson sent over a deep superb left-footed ball towards the far post and Kapo stuck his foot out and steered it past Jaaskelainen who tried in vain to prevent it from crossing the line.
