After four games without a goal, Fowler finally got off the mark as City rediscovered their winning touch at home to Birmingham City.
Fowler found the net in the 72nd minute as his super strike gave City their first win in five Premiership matches to halt their slide down the table.
Ali Benarbia provided the centre from the right and Fowler scored with a delightful volley with the outside of his left foot, steering his effort wide to the right of Ian Bennett.
Manager Kevin Keegan enthused: "It was a great goal in a bad match and it needed something special to break the deadlock.
"It was not really a chance, only a quarter to half chance and only Robbie could score a goal like that. It was nice to see him do it in a City Shirt.
"There was always tension because Robbie had gone two, three and four games without scoring, but he showed everyone he is a terrific finisher with great vision."
Those sentiments were echoed by Birmingham boss Steve Bruce who pointed out that Fowler was the only player on the field capable of scoring a goal of such quality.
City ought to have won by a wider margin had they shown more composure in front of goal.
Nicolas Anelka twice found himself clean through on goal, but failed to find a way pass Bennett who made great blocks on both occasions.
And Fowler toiled before his goal and clearly lacked confidence following a miss which, for him, could only be described as a sitter early in the second half.
Birmingham, battling against relegation, were disappointing and registered just two shots on target in 90 minutes.
Sub Geoff Horsfield will have nightmares following his last minute miss when after rounding keeper Peter Schmeichel he completely miskicked.
"Geoff was unfortunate. It will be shown on video, television and bloopers of the week and he will have to live with it for a few weeks," said Bruce.