It was Leicester's first Premiership success in 14 games and reflected the spirit of the players to make some effort to atone for what recently occurred in Spain.
Adams, who in midweek cut short a training session as he claimed his players did not have their minds on the job, could not make the same comment after this outstanding win.
Veteran striker, Les Ferdinand, epitomised the Leicester spirit. From the start he gave encouragement and was himself rewarded with the 54th minute goal which gave the Foxes their shock win over a Birmingham side that would have moved into fourth place if they had collected just a point.
It was hardly the result expected by Birmingham as they slumped to their first defeat in ten games. They were looking for their third successive home win inside a fortnight but instead had to taste a bad defeat.
Leicester City, playing in an all-black strip, are a club in turmoil but it was not reflected on the field as they battled strongly against a Birmingham side sadly off-key in the goalless first half.
The scandal of what has happened in Spain was surprisingly not an enveloping cloud on Leicester's performance. They produced a fair measure of skill and enterprise which was not matched in the first half hour by a Birmingham side which lacked a cutting edge to take full advantage of Leicester's predicament.
Leicester manager Adams, who has described himself over the last few days as the unluckiest man in football, transposed his resilience to his players who responded gallantly to carve out their surprise success.
Steve Bruce, Birmingham's manager, who before the game felt it might be the wrong time to meet Leicester, said: "It was a below par performance and it was very disappointing.
"They had one shot and scored. It was poor defending. We had four or five chances and didn't take one. It was disappointing after the way we have played in our last two games.
"We have to accept the defeat, take it on the chin and carry on as before.
"I've seen Leicester recently fight for their lives and show the resilience to pick themselves off the floor.
"But I am more concerned about what I've seen in my team rather than the opposition."Birmingham, who parted with both Christophe Dugarry and Jeff Kenna in midweek, lacked the midfield drive and when they did carve out chances in the first half both Stan Lazaridis and Mikael Forssell's finishing left a great deal to be desired.
On both occasions goalkeeper Ian Walker was able to deal with both efforts without any trouble as Birmingham failed to lift their game against the Foxes.
The inability of either Forssell or Clinton Morrison to make an impact against the Leicester defence in this spell was in no small way due to the dominant form of Ricardo Scimeca and Matt Heath.
With Robbie Savage struggling to make any real impact against his old club it left a massive gap in Birmingham's midfield. Savage came more into the proceedings in the closing stages of the first period, but Leicester, given enthusiastic support from their fans, had little difficulty in surviving.
They capitalised upon the situation in dramatic fashion by taking a 54th minute lead when Birmingham's defence was caught leaden footed. SkipperMuzzy Izzet pulled a low ball back into the middle and the unmarked Ferdinand had little difficulty scoring from close range.
The goal sparked Birmingham back to life but it was no avail as the damage had been done in such dramatic style much to the delight of the vocal Leicester fans who could not have expected such a result in the light of events in Spain.
Their last chance of an equaliser and a point which would have taken them into fourth place occurred in the 65th minute following a Savage free-kick.
The ball ran loose to Olivier Tebily but he screwed the ball wide of the post when Walker was again untroubled.
Man of the Match: Les Ferdinand - His composure in obviously difficult circumstances did much to settle his team-mates. To cap his own personal contribution he also grabbed Leicester's vital goal.