Birmingham earn late point at play-off hopefuls Hull

Posted Wednesday, March 06, 2024 by PA

Birmingham secured an important point in their battle against relegation with a hard-earned 1-1 draw at play-off contenders Hull.

Ozan Tufan looked to have consigned Blues to a 13th away defeat when he headed home in the first half.

But Hull, still in the Sky Bet Championship play-offs and now unbeaten in six, were sloppy in front of goal and could not score the second which their dominance arguably warranted.

They were punished after 82 minutes through Lukas Jutkiewicz’s firm header which moved Birmingham, still without unwell manager Tony Mowbray, a point above the drop zone.

With the visitors clearly short of confidence – only Rotherham have a weaker Championship away record – Liam Rosenior’s men were, unsurprisingly, keen to seize control early on.

Fabio Carvalho’s smart hit was sharply deflected for a corner by Emanuel Aiwu, after which Jean Michael Seri warmed John Ruddy’s palms from distance on seven minutes.

But just when it felt like Hull would kick on, Birmingham came desperately close to opening the scoring just 60 seconds later.

Junior Bacuna too easily beat Ryan Giles on the right before crossing hard and low towards the near post.

Hull centre-back Jacob Greaves looked to have snubbed out the threat, but his sliding defensive block skewed inches wide of the right post.

The hosts were fleetingly knocked off their stride following that let-off, but they always looked a threat in possession and gradually retained a strong foothold into the game.

Mark Venus, however, will still have been most disappointed by the manner in which Blues conceded after 25 minutes.

Abdulkadir Omur’s fierce corner was flicked on by Greaves towards the far post, but Tufan was still given too much space to head home.

Turkey international Tufan came close to adding a second after 40 minutes when he let rip from the edge of penalty area following good work from Jaden Philogene.

The ball bounced awkwardly but Ruddy did brilliantly to palm the ball onto the base of the left post, with Carvalho a stud’s length away from scoring on the follow-up.

Hull largely bossed proceedings after the restart, but they were often guilty of overcomplicated build-up play when a direct approach would have been more beneficial.

No better was this illustrated than after 73 minutes when Philogene cashed in on a defensive mix-up but tried to score the perfect goal when a simple strike would have had Ruddy in big trouble.

But with Hull goalkeeper Ryan Allsop a virtual bystander, few inside the MKM Stadium would have bet against a home win.

That was until substitute Alex Pritchard whipped over a teasing cross from the right, with Jutkiewicz heading home from close range to earn Birmingham what could prove to be a huge point.