Birmingham demonstrate resilience with fightback

Birmingham rallied from two goals down to claim a deserved point from Everton in an entertaining encounter at St Andrews.

Craig Gardner sealed the fightback with his first goal for Birmingham following his January move from Aston Villa, preserving his new employers’ six-month unbeaten record at home.

Everton, who had been knocked out of the FA Cup by Birmingham at Goodison Park this season, looked on track for revenge when Victor Anichebe and Ayegbeni Yakubu fired them into an early lead.

But Birmingham’s current resilience was evident as Cameron Jerome’s third goal in the last two games gave them hope and set the stage for Gardner.

Birmingham would have been behind even sooner but for a fine save from Joe Hart which kept out Steven Pienaar’s curling effort.

But two minutes later, Anichebe took a pass from Phil Neville and turned past Liam Ridgewell before beating Hart with a powerful 15-yard drive.

Yakubu added a second three minutes later, heading home a Pienaar cross at the back post.

Birmingham responded quickly with Jerome getting the faintest of touches to deflect Keith Fahey’s cross from the left past Tim Howard.

Hart once again demonstrated why many people feel he should be England’s number one when he pushed away a Pienaar free-kick in first-half stoppage time.

And Everton might have killed the contest early in the second half, when the referee waved away what looked like a good claim for a penalty after a Pienaar free-kick struck Roger Johnson’s arm.

Instead it was Birmingham who equalised. Jerome won the ball in the air and his flick fell kindly for Gardner, who drilled a low left-footed drive past Howard into the corner of the net.

The pace of the game relented a little after that and neither side seriously threatened to produce a decisive goal.