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| |  | BIRMINGHAM pulled off an important late show to snatch all four available league points with a 51-39 win at Buxton.
The Surestop Brummies were involved in a much closer battle than most expected and were made to dig deep as they kept their play-off hopes alive.
Graham Drury's side held an eight point advantage with six races gone, but found themselves level after heat ten.
With nothing separating the sides with three races to go, the Brummies found their gating gloves once again to secure a hat-trick of successive 5-1 maximums.
Spearhead duo Liam Carr and Jack Parkinson-Blackburn were the Heat 15 heroes as they completed the meeting unbeaten on an immaculate afternoon for the pair.
Layne Cupitt reached paid double figures as he contributed to Birmingham's first two 5-1s in the opening three races.
Guest youngster Kyle Bickley also impressed as he recorded two wins on his way to double figures - one of which came in the penultimate race where he was joined out front by Taylor Hampshire who put his mechanical woes behind him in a significant race result.
Alex Spooner endured another difficult afternoon, but improved in every ride despite being gifted his only point of the day.
Boss Drury said: "The final score does not reflect the meeting we were involved in and is harsh on Buxton in all honesty.
"They're bottom of the table and some people probably thought we were going to come here and win by a much bigger margin.
"We knew it was always going to be tricky though and fair play to Buxton, they made us dig very deep in the end.
"It was certainly squeaky bum time in those final few races but due to the strength and quality of our big-hitters, we were always quietly confident that we could snatch something at the death.
"We came here for four points, we got four points and our play-off push continues.
"Some would say we won ugly today, but some times you do have to battle that little bit harder to get what you want and that was the case today.
"A special mention for the Birmingham supporters once again; there were a lot of them who made the journey to cheer the boys on and there was even a dog with a yellow and red scarf on too!
"We now turn our attentions to Monday's big derby at Cradley and we know there's room for improvement in our performance against our local rivals."
A full preview ahead of the fixture at Cradley will be issued on Monday morning.
BUXTON 39: Ryan Kinsley 11+1, Tony Atkin 9, Tom Woolley 8, Matt Williamson 6, Sam Woolley 2+1, Lee Geary 2+1, Jamie Halder 1+1.
BIRMINGHAM 51: Liam Carr 15, Jack Parkinson-Blackburn 13+2, Kyle Bickley 10, Layne Cupitt 8+2, Taylor Hampshire 4+1, Alex Spooner 1, David Mason R/R.
Picture: IAN CHARLES
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