With Birmingham City equalizing late on, Hull City missed out on a chance to build on their momentum for the play-offs.
Hull City missed a chance to strengthen their position in the Championship play-offs after Birmingham City equalized late in a 1-1 draw at the MKM Stadium.
Ozan Tufan appeared to condemn the Blues to their 13th away defeat as he headed home in the first half.
However, Hull, who are still in the Sky Bet Championship play-offs and are currently unbeaten in six games, were careless in front of goal and failed to score the second goal that would have guaranteed them an advantage.
Lukas Jutkiewicz’s powerful header punished them in the 82nd minute, but Birmingham, without manager Tony Mowbray, moved one point above the drop zone.
The visiting side were clearly lacking in confidence (only Rotherham had a worse away record in the league) and Liam Rosenior’s side understandably looked to take the lead early on.
Fabio Carvalho’s smart strike was well saved from a corner by Emmanuel Quince, and in the seventh minute Jean-Michel Seri warmed the palm of Jon Ruddy from distance.
But just when Hull felt they could take the lead, Birmingham came desperately close to taking the lead just 60 seconds later. Junior Bacuna easily beat Ryan Giles on the right and fired a low, sharp shot towards the near post.
Hull centre-back Jacob Greaves appeared to have evaded the threat, but his sliding defensive block went just wide of the right post.
After this break, the hosts were quickly overwhelmed, but they always looked threatening in possession and gradually maintained a favorable position in the match.
But manager Marc Venus will be even more disappointed that the Blues conceded in the 25th minute. Abdulkadir Omr’s strong corner was met by Greaves at the far post, but there was still too much space for Tufan to head towards goal.
Turkey international Tufan almost added a second goal in the 40th minute when he fired in from the edge of the box after some work from Jayden Fillogen.
The ball bounced awkwardly, but Rudy did a great job curling it into the base of the left post, allowing Carvalho to come close to scoring the extra point.
Hull took the lead immediately after the restart, but he often committed overly complex preparations, even though a direct approach would have been more advantageous.
In the 73rd minute, Philogene tried to take advantage of a defensive error to score the perfect goal, but a simple kick put Ruddy in trouble as well.
However, few at the MCM Stadium were willing to bet on a home win, with Hull goalkeeper Ryan Allsop being the de facto witness. Substitute Alex Pritchard sent in a defiant cross from the right and Jutkiewicz could have given Birmingham a big point with a shot from close range.
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