Mark Venus hopes Birmingham’s draw at Hull can be ‘springboard’ in survival bid

Mark Venus hopes Birmingham’s 1-1 draw at play-off-chasing Hull can act as “a springboard” in their battle against relegation.

Substitute Lukas Jutkiewicz’s late header cancelled out Ozan Tufan’s first-half goal to move Blues one point clear of the Sky Bet Championship drop zone.

Venus, still assisting for the unwell Tony Mowbray, said: “Hull are a very good team and they are, of course, not in the top six after 35 games for no good reason.

“But we stuck at it and kept going, which was great to see.

“They obviously had a lot of possession, which we expected, but we also caused them a few problems and I felt we deserved a point in the end.

“This now has to be a springboard for the rest of the season.”

Birmingham looked in big trouble when Tufan scored at the back post on 25 minutes after Fabio Carvalho’s corner was flicked on by Jacob Greaves.

Tufan’s final touch appeared to come off his left hand but the goal was given.

The Turkey international nearly doubled Hull’s lead after 40 minutes when his strike from distance was expertly pawed on to the left post by John Ruddy.

The hosts dominated for most of the second half, but they were obsessed by trying to score a perfect second goal when a more direct approach could have put the game out of sight.

And they were punished after 82 minutes when substitute Alex Pritchard sent over a lovely cross that was powerfully headed home by Jutkiewicz.

Venus said: “It (Tuzan’s goal) looks handball to me, but maybe the officials were not in a position to give it.

“I just feel, at the moment, that things are going a little bit against us in terms of decisions, but hopefully we can get a few more in our favour going forwards for the rest of the season.

“We’ve had some really tough fixtures that have stretched us to the limit so to come here and get something, in a game that teams in Hull’s position usually win, was great.

“We have to build on this now and move forwards, but we need everybody with us as we’ve got a big task ahead.”

Hull are unbeaten in six and remain in the play-offs, but head coach Liam Rosenior was unhappy that his players could not convert their superiority into more goals.

He said: “Some of the control, some of the areas we get into and the dominance – and we come away with a point? I’m very angry and frustrated.

“I keep saying the same things, but this has to be the last time I say them.

“We have to be more ruthless and we have to take advantage of our dominance.

“They didn’t have a sniff and we’ve just thrown away another two points – when Jutkiewicz came on we should have been 3-0 up.

The reason we play this way is to score, dominate and take the game away from the opposition – we have to grow up and understand where we are.”

Rosenior added: “The one-touch stuff is great but we’re here to score goals.

“This is on me – I’d never criticise individuals –but for us to get to where we want to be we have to all take responsibility.

“I’d say 95 per cent of our performance was magnificent but we didn’t finish it off and that’s the bit that makes the different in football.

“I love this group, but time is going to pass us by if we don’t learn lessons.

“Everyone can see the potential of this team, but we have turn the potential into reality.”