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Birmingham looked the more solid unit and deserved a second equaliser but just as it looked as if they were going to hang on comfortably for at least a draw, if not all three points, Wanderers hit them with two goals in three minutes.
If Wanderers needed a lift it came after only 12 minutes when Ricardo Gardner crossed tamely into the six-yard box, only for Kenny Cunningham to slice it past his keeper Ian Bennett.
It was a break the home side should have capitalised on yet it was the Birmingham attack that seemed to seize the initiative. At the heart of it all was Frenchman Christophe Dugarry and his touch around the penalty area caused some anxiety for the home defence.
Unfortunately his touch inside the area was lacking in the first half, first ballooning the ball over the bar from a good position before completely mis-kicking another chance from Paul Devlin's cross.
At the other end Wanderers attack also struggled and debutant Matthew Upson was never tested to any great extent, restricting to the home striker to a series of long-range shots that caused no problem for Bennett in the Birmingham goal.
Just before half time Jeff Kenna should have equalised after good work by Clinton Morrison, but the skipper put a weak shot wide. It didn't matter however as a minute before the break Robbie Savage fired the Blues level, tapping the ball in from close range following Stan Lazaridis' astute cross.
Within 25 seconds of the re-start Wanderers surprisingly were ahead again. Upson missed a header to let in Youri Djorkaeff, who turned Cunningham and fired past Bennett leaving Henrik Pedersen to fire the ball over the line, despite Steve Clemence's attempts to clear.
Birmingham quickly responded with Morrison flighting a header on to the top of the crossbar, but the same player made no mistake in the 60th minute racing on to Clemence's clever chip to push the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen.
With the Blues comfortably holding the Wanderers at the back, they looked more and more dangerous on the break, but seven minutes from time Wanderers got the break they were hoping for as Djorkaeff found space in the area to turn and steer the ball past Bennett.
The Trotters, who for so long did not look to have a goal in them, grabbed a fourth, Delroy Facey following up after Jay-Jay Okocha had hit a post.