Nedum Onuoha thought he had put the Blues 2-0 ahead at the City of Manchester Stadium with his powerful diving header just three minutes after Tevez grabbed the lead from the spot.
But goal-hungry team-mate Carlos claimed that one as well after poking a toe at the ball on its way past goalkeeper Maik Taylor, given a torrid afternoon as Joe Hart’s deputy.
Now the club, asked to rule on the official scorer because the Premier League only steps into debates about possible own goals, has awarded the goal to the Argentina striker.
It takes Tevez to 22 goals in the Premier League - and at the heart of the hunt for the coveted Golden Boot - and 28 goals in all, his biggest-ever haul in a single campaign.
Onuoha later capped a man-of-the-match performance by slicing through Birmingham’s frazzled defence to score the goal of the game and put City 4-1 ahead after 76 minutes.
Nedum said: “Carlos told me at half-time that it was his, and I just shrugged and said ‘fine’ - you don’t want to argue with him, he’s passionate about scoring goals.”
