Despite being unlucky to lose their Premier League status last season, Birmingham struggled to cope with Keith Hill’s Barnsley who were unlucky not to come away from St. Andrews with a convincing win.

The Reds had not beaten Birmingham on their own patch since the memorable 4-0 play-off semi-final win in 2000 and, despite Birmingham’s poor start to the season, weren’t expected to change that this afternoon.

Just like last week against Watford, the Reds put the home side under immediate pressure and created all the early chances.  Unlike the Watford game though, Barnsley were eventually able to take the lead as the impressive Jacob Butterfield tried his luck from about 30-yards and beat Boaz Myhill who could only watch as the ball flashed past his right-hand and in to the bottom corner of his goal.

Barnsley kept their lead going into the break with the second half proving to be a more cagey affair as the home side looked to quickly restore parity.

The introduction of tall front man Nikola Zigic caused problems for the Reds as he was involved in a couple of moves that Birmingham might have scored from on another day.

As the Barnsley players beginned to tire, they were forced further and further back into their own half and with just a few minutes of normal time remaining, Chris Burke found just enough space to curl a 20-yard shot at the Reds goal that was just out of Luke Steele’s reach and found the bottom corner of the net.

Disappointing as it was not to hold on for all three points, the Reds have maintained their unbeaten away record and continued the run of impressive performances where just the ability to kill a game off with a second goal has been missing.

Barnsley now face a daunting trip to Pride Park to play Derby, who have made an excellent start to the season, on Tuesday.

Birmingham v Barnsley Highlights

Click the image below to see highlights of the game from the BBC – please note that these are normally available for around a week after the game has been played.

Birmingham City: Myhill, Carr, Caldwell, Ridgewell, Burke, King, Beausejour, Redmond, Spector (Elliott 56), Davies (Murphy 9), Wood (Zigic 65).
Subs: Doyle, Gomis.

Barnsley: Steele, McEveley, Foster, O’Brien, Done (Clark 30 (Addison 76)), Perkins, McNulty, Butterfield, Drinkwater, Gray.
Subs: Preece, Wiseman, Rose.

Attendance: 17, 836 (796 away)