West Brom's revival sinks Birmingham

West Bromwich Albion, without a League win in 13 games, reached the English final of the Anglo-Italian Cup last night by beating their local rivals Birmingham City 4-1 in a penalty shoot-out at St Andrews.

Albion triumphed 4-1 on penalties after extra time had failed to separate the two sides, who had been locked at 2-2 at the end of 90 minutes. Tony Rees, making his first appearance in 16 games, put West Brom ahead with a neat header in the 18th minute. The visitors hit the woodwork twice before Gary Poole equalised from 20 yards shortly after the interval and then Gary Bull put Birmingham ahead in the 59th minute.

Albion battled on and were rewarded in the 80th minute when Paul Raven equalised with a powerful header.

In the shoot-out, Bull and John Frain missed, allowing West Brom to go into the English final against Port Vale.

Sunderland edged above Huddersfield into third place in the Endsleigh League First Division with a point from a goalless draw with Tranmere Rovers at Roker Park. With Tranmere determined to end a run of five away defeats, Sunderland's lack of striking power let them down.

n Middlesbrough's Juninho was last night named in Brazil's 20-man squad for the Olympic qualifying event in Argentina from 18 February to 6 March.