Colchester United U23s got their league campaign off to a winning start on Monday night, thanks to a Tommy O'Sullivan brace.
The U's were impressive in the first half before withstanding strong pressure after the break to ensure they picked up all three points.
The home side were at it from the off against their Midlands opponents and deservedly got their noses in front after just seven minutes.
O'Sullivan was felled in the box and he picked himself up to roll the penalty past Simon Lefebvre in the Birmingham goal.
With the lead secured, the U's pressed on and doubled their advantage on nineteen minutes.
Eoin McKeown saw his shot smothered by Lefebvre, but O'Sullivan was on hand to calmly create some space before slotting into the empty net.
The Blues finally started to get into the game after that second goal and some timely interceptions from Ollie Kensdale and Dan Jefferies in the heart of the U's defence preserved their advantage.
Kane Vincent-Young embarked on a winding run which ended with a smart save from the keeper, before McKeown fizzed a shot just wide of the upright just before the break.
After the interval, the visitors were much improved and started to test the U's back line more than in the first half.
McFarlane sent one just wide eight minutes after half time, before O'Sullivan tested Lefebvre at the end of a driving run forward.
City did pull one back when captain O'Keeffe curled home a superb free kick to make it 2-1 with 25 minutes to go.
And the visitors then had a good ten minutes of pressure which tested the resolve of the home defence.
But the U's continued to create chances as McKeown and Brown both had shots well saved.
Brown came off to be replaced by Louis Dunne in the latter stages, whilst Courtney Senior also got a final five minutes in his first appearance at WHCS.
The U's ran the remaining time down without too many more problems and recorded a winning start to the season.