A late header from David Murphy rescued a point for Birmingham City at home to West Ham United this evening.
It looked for a long while that Carlton Cole's fourth-minute strike was going to hand Sam Allardyce's side all three points at St Andrew's. The England international collected possession deep inside the Birmingham half before slotting the ball beyond Boaz Myhill.
Cole's striking partner Frederic Piquionne then had a good chance to double his team's advantage, but Myhill palmed away his effort.
Birmingham's only goalscoring chance of note during the opening 45 minutes came courtesy of Chris Burke, who saw his free-kick pushed wide by Robert Green.
Piquionne again spurned a chance to score West Ham's second shortly after the restart when he shot straight at Myhill.
Blues substitute Nikola Zigic was presented with a good chance to score an equaliser after 75 minutes, but he failed to convert his close range header.
However, the leveller eventually came five minutes late from Murphy. Centre-back Steven Caldwell flicked the ball into the area and Murphy was on hand to head past a wrong-footed Green.
Both sides went in search of a winning goal but neither goalkeeper was called into any telling action during the remaining few minutes.
Liam Apicella
