Birmingham twice came from behind to earn a deserved 2-2 draw with Manchester City at St Andrews.
Manchester City took the lead in the fourth minute, a move started and finished by captain Carlos Tevez.
His through ball found David Silva who skipped past three defenders before Tevez picked up the ball and poked it into the corner of the net.
But Birmingham hit back and after Nikola Zigic’s volley brought a fine save from Joe Hart, the Serbian striker flicked in the equaliser in the 23rd minute.
The game was held up for six minutes for a serious head injury to Micah Richards. The City defender flew to head a ball but caught team-mate Nigel De Jong. He was taken to hospital as a precaution, De Jong returned heavily bandaged but was replaced at half-time.
City regained the lead four minutes from the break thanks to a superb Aleksandar Kolarov free-kick from 20 yards. There was nothing Ben Foster could do as the Serb’s rocket shot flew into the net.
Birmingham came out the stronger in the second half and created a couple of half-chances through David Bentley and Craig Gardner.
With the home side attacking, City threatened on the break as Jerome Boateng and Tevez both tested Foster who was equal to both.
But Birmingham were handed a lifeline with 13 minutes left thanks to a clumsy challenge on substitute Kevin Phillips by Patrick Vieira in the box, with Gardner stepping up to fire home an unstoppable spot-kick.
Phillips almost won it at the death for the hosts with a speculative volley that had Hart at full stretch to tip over, while Kolarov nearly repeated his goal with the final kick of the game, though thankfully for the home side it flew inches wide.
