Birmingham City missed a chance to close on the Championship top six as they were held 1-1 by Sheffield United at St Andrew's. Marvin Ducksch's superb free-kick gave the home side the lead after Femi Seriki's 23rd-minute red card, but Patrick Bamford struck in first-half stoppage time to rescue the visitors.
The result left Birmingham still seven points behind sixth-placed Wrexham, while Sheffield United also lost ground in the play-off race after an evening that contained almost everything: a dismissal, a bizarre penalty, a key save from James Beadle, repeated blows against the woodwork, and a defiant goalkeeping display from Adam Davies.
An explosive start set the tone
The game was open almost immediately and Birmingham threatened twice inside the opening nine minutes. Jay Stansfield's dummy from Tomoki Iwata's pass freed Ibrahim Osman, whose close-range shot took a deflection and struck the post. Soon after, Ethan Laird's lay-off invited Ducksch to curl an effort against the crossbar from the left edge of the area.