Birmingham City won the West Midlands derby against West Bromwich Albion with ease after Hannibal Mejbri scored the first goal and assisted on the second.
The Tunisian scored his first goal as a senior on a superbly executed low curling free kick from the on-loan Manchester United midfielder in the tenth minute.
Seven minutes into the second half, he then swung over the left-wing corner, from which Polish midfielder Krystian Bielik also scored his first goal for the team.
Albion lost for the third time in four league and cup games, while Blues improved on their 4-3 comeback win at Swansea last Saturday.
From the moment that Mejbri made such a sensational breakthrough, Albion was always going to face a challenge.
At the Gil Merrick Stand end, Blues won a free kick near the edge of the penalty area on the right side. Mejbri quickly noticed that David Button's positioning gave him a window to shoot inside the left upright of the Albion goalkeeper.
Still, there was a gap to be filled, and he did so by expertly bending a low right-foot curler around Grady Diangana, who was acting as a one-man wall.
If Button had any self-doubt, he then needed to be at the top of his game to block another fiercely struck free-kick from Mejbri just before halftime.
However, seven minutes into the second half, Bielik leapt highest to meet Mejbri's delivery from the left wing, dodging Button's dejected last-ditch run from the line to score.
In his first game since ending rumors linking him to the vacant managerial position at Leeds United by signing a new long-term contract with Albion, manager Carlos Corberan made five second-half substitutions, three of them all at once, but it was in vain.
Even though the Baggies controlled more than two thirds of the possession and spent a lot of time late on camped in the Blues half, they only managed one shot on goal.
Next up:
Following their fourth Friday night victory of the year, Blues will play another floodlit home game against Cardiff City on Tuesday before traveling to Huddersfield the following Saturday.
Now, Albion will play host to Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday before traveling to Watford, the current club of former manager Slaven Bilic, on Monday.
