Villa beat Birmingham in derby to maintain promotion charge

Soccer Football - Championship - Aston Villa vs Birmingham City - VIlla Park, Birmingham, Britain - February 11, 2018 Aston Villa's Conor Hourihane celebrates with Robert Snodgrass and Ahmed Elmohamady after scoring their second goal Action Images/Andrew Boyers

LONDON (Reuters) - Aston Villa continued their promotion charge with a 2-0 victory in the second city derby against Birmingham City on Sunday with Albert Adomah and Conor Hourihane both on target at Villa Park.

Villa's seventh straight league win saw Steve Bruce's side climb to second place, 12 points behind runaway leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Adomah opened the scoring on the hour with his 13th league goal of the season before Hourihane volleyed his side's second.

Soccer Football - Championship - Aston Villa vs Birmingham City - Villa Park, Birmingham, Britain - February 11, 2018 Aston Villa's Albert Adomah in action with Birmingham City's Carl Jenkinson Action Images/Matthew Childs

Birmingham's Cheikh Ndoye was sent off in stoppage time for a second bookable offence.

Villa jumped ahead of Derby into the second automatic promotion spot as they look to return to the top flight after being relegated from in 2016.

Soccer Football - Championship - Aston Villa vs Birmingham City - VIlla Park, Birmingham, Britain - February 11, 2018 Aston Villa's John Terry in action with Birmingham's Jermie Boga Action Images/Andrew Boyers

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)

Soccer Football - Championship - Aston Villa vs Birmingham City - VIlla Park, Birmingham, Britain - February 11, 2018 Birmingham's Cheikh NDoye is shown a second yellow card and then a red card by referee Peter Bankes Action Images/Andrew Boyers

Soccer Football - Championship - Aston Villa vs Birmingham City - Villa Park, Birmingham, Britain - February 11, 2018 Birmingham City's Cheick Ndoye clashes with Aston Villa's John Terry as he is sent off Action Images/Matthew Childs

Soccer Football - Championship - Aston Villa vs Birmingham City - VIlla Park, Birmingham, Britain - February 11, 2018 Birmingham City's Cheick Ndoye (L) walks off dejected after being sent off Action Images/Matthew Childs

Soccer Football - Championship - Aston Villa vs Birmingham City - VIlla Park, Birmingham, Britain - February 11, 2018 Aston Villa's John Terry applauds the fans after the match Action Images/Matthew Childs