Birmingham City 1-1 Fulham
Relegation-threatened Fulham remain in deep trouble after letting a lead slip at Birmingham City.
The Whites had to settle for a 1-1 draw at St Andrew’s after taking the lead through Rohan Ince as they went six games without a win.
It is a result that sees the west Londoners slip to just one place above the relegation zone as Rotherham grabbed a win at Ipswich while MK Dons lost to Brighton.
Slavisa Jokanovic was bold with his team selection and left some supporters baffled as he picked four recognised centre-backs and four central midfielders.
Marcus Bettinelli was restored to the starting line-up for the first time since August after recovering from knee ligament damage as Andy Lonergan dropped to the bench.
In the early stages, Scott Parker played a neat one-two with Emerson Hyndman before watching his chipped effort cleared off the line by Paul Caddis.
Fulham were bright and sharp as Birmingham sat back, playing three defensive-minded midfield players, and they were rewarded as half time approached.
Ross McCormack picked out Tom Cairney with a cross-field pass and his clever backheel created the chance for Ince and Tomasz Kuszczak allowed it to squirm home.
It was Ince’s first goal in 14 months and former Manchester United goalkeeper Kuszczak really won’t want to see it again as he made a real hash of dealing with the shot.
Bettinelli made a sensational reaction save to keep out Jonathan Spector in the dying moments of the first half to keep the Whites’ lead intact at the interval.
However, it took just 10 minutes for that to change after the restart as David Cotterill’s superb delivery was knocked in by Michael Morrison to square things up.
With both teams back on level terms, the temperature started to rise and things threatened to boil over in the Midlands as the referee started dishing out bookings.
James Vaughn was thrown on by Birmingham as the home side tried to force the issue and the influential Caddis forced another fine stop from Fulham keeper Bettinelli.
They were denied by the woodwork when David Davis chanced his arm from range and a lurking Clayton Donaldson was unable to put away the rebound.
Fulham: Bettinelli, Stearman, Madl, Burn, Ream, Cairney, Parker, Ince, Hyndman (Fredericks, 75), McCormack, Dembele (Smith, 86).
Subs: Lonergan, O’Hara, Richards, Garbutt, Hutchinson.
