Nottingham Forest beat Birmingham but their 3-1 win was marred by an injury suffered by striker Nicklas Bendtner.
Bendtner required oxygen as he was carried off the field on a stretcher, having landed awkwardly in a collision with Blues defender
The Dane had set uj to open the scoring and Apostolos Vellios made it 2-0 from Henri Lansbury’s cross.
Lukas Jutkiewicz headed a goal back for Blues but Hildeberto Pereira finished Ben Osborn’s low pass to seal victory.
A Birmingham win could have taken Gary Rowett’s side as high as second in the table, but their first away loss of the league campaign means they may be outside the top six by the time they host Rotherham on Tuesday.
Lichaj’s powerful angled shot, the defender’s first goal for almost a year, lit up a flat first half at the City Ground.
The only other talking point before the interval was Lansbury’s disallowed free-kick, with referee Jeremy Simpson initially awarding a goal and then reversing his decision following consultation with his assistant.
Forest’s win came hours after owner Fawaz Al Hasawi announced he is close to agreeing a deal to sell the club.
Al Hasawi, who took control of Forest in 2012, would not reveal the identity of the buyers but BBC Sport understands that a United States consortium, led by millionaire John Jay Moores, is on the verge of securing a £50m deal.
Head coach Philippe Montanier told BBC Radio Nottingham: “I enjoyed the victory. We’ve worked hard during the international break and we applied what we worked on during that period.
“Bendtner’s injury is a bad point of this evening. We don’t know how serious it is. I hope it is not very serious.
“When you go off on a stretcher, you always worry. We hope to have more news on Saturday.”
Birmingham manager Gary Rowett told BBC WM: “We weren’t anywhere near the standards we’ve set so far this season, certainly in the first half. We were a little bit too predictable.
“We wanted to do much better in the second half and there was a real determination to do that. We ended up at 2-1 and we looked as though we had put them under some real pressure.
“I wasn’t overly happy with one or two decisions, but I thought Forest deserved it. They showed more energy and desire.”
