Match report from the afternoon away draw versus Birmingham City
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Birmingham City boosted their hopes of making a late surge for European football next season with a battling 2-2 draw against one of their main rivals, Everton.
In the battle for a place in the top eight, Birmingham displayed their credentials with a fighting comeback to extend their unbeaten home record to 11 games.
Victor Anichebe and Yakubu scored twice in the space of four minutes only for Birmingham to demonstrate their resilience with goals from Cameron Jerome and Craig Gardner.
It was the second draw between these two teams this season, while Everton increased their unbeaten record at St Andrew's to four games.
Everton put themselves into a strong winning position but allowed a revitalised Birmingham back into the game with another confident home display.
Following a quiet start, the game came to life after the opening 15 minutes with Everton suddenly stepping up the pace.
Steven Pienaar began the onslaught with a curling goalbound shot which forced Joe Hart to dive low to his left to keep his goal intact.
But in the 19th minute Anichebe put Everton in the driving seat. The well-built Everton frontman took a pass from skipper Phil Neville, turned and rifled a left-foot shot past Hart for his first league goal of the season.
Four minutes later Everton steamed further ahead. This time it was a right-wing cross from Pienaar which Yakubu headed home at the far post when Roger Johnson was unable to make any contact.
The fast, open game promised further goals and the fans were not disappointed as Birmingham put themselves back into contention in the 26th minute.
A delicate flick by Jerome from a seemingly harmless cross by Liam Ridgewell deceived everyone including Everton's goalkeeper, Tim Howard.
Following this goal surge there was some untidy play from both teams. Everton were fortunate that Sylvain Distin was in top form as he made several timely clearances to cut out some Birmingham moves.
There were a couple of handling incidents early in the second half when the ball hit Roger Johnson and Gardner. Referee Lee Probert, however, declined appeals for a penalty on each occasion.
Birmingham certainly prospered from the two decisions as, in the 51st minute, Gardner popped up for his first goal since his move from near-neighbours, Aston Villa.
It was a long clearance from Hart which was headed on by Jerome for Gardner to score with a shot which was always bouncing out of the reach of Howard.
Surprisingly Birmingham began to dominate the midfield where Mikel Arteta, who has been in good form since his return from a lengthy lay-off, was not so conspicuous as normal.
Everton sent on Landon Donovan for his last appearance before returning to America and this signalled a surge of attacking pressure from the Toffees.
But Birmingham's dominant central defenders, Johnson and Scott Dann, were in top form to deny Everton and earn a valuable home point. |
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