Birmingham City 3-3 Hull City: Gary Gardner double denies Tigers away victory
- Published
James Scott's goal for Hull followed six he scored for Motherwell this season
Relegation-threatened Hull City twice led at St Andrew's, only to be denied a first win since January by Birmingham City's second-half fightback.
Two-goal Gary Gardner's close-range header earned Blues a draw with a late equaliser.
While Hull arrested their slide by claiming only their third point in 13 matches, it was a game they twice let slip.
The Tigers climb out of the bottom three, but only by goal difference from Huddersfield Town, who go to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
Hull led 2-0 inside 16 minutes with headers from Josh Magennis and James Scott, but Blues started the second half in the same vibrant way, scoring twice inside 15 minutes through Gardner and Dan Crowley.
It looked like on-loan Liverpool midfielder Herbie Kane had won it for Hull when he cheekily steered his 20-yard free-kick under the wall after Jake Clarke-Salter had been booked for hauling back Mallik Wilks.
But Gardner had the final word, doubling his goal tally of the season to keep the outgoing Pep Clotet's Blues seven points clear of trouble.
Blues-Tigers games spell goals
Gary Gardner drives home the first of his two goals for Birmingham City
This six-goal thriller matched a 3-3 draw between the two sides when the Tigers last visited St Andrew's.
In fact, it is a fixture that has now become customary for serving up goals - 42 of them in 10 matches, spread over the last six seasons, including 5-2 and 6-1 home wins for Hull.
Hull had beaten Blues 3-0 when the sides last met in November, but that was before losing Kamil Grosicki, one of their scorers that day, and Jarrod Bowen in the January window.
Grant McCann's men have not won since - but must have thought that was about to be put right when they carved out their early lead.
Hull had already created two half-chances before they went ahead in only the second minute, when Callum Elder whipped in a free-kick from the right and Magennis got on the end to head home.
They doubled the lead on 16 minutes when January recruit Scott, supposedly ruled out for the season by injury within 15 days of signing, marked his first league start for the club with his first goal - a free header from Leo da Silva's cross.
Birmingham opted for a more attacking formation at the break, sacrificing Maikel Kieftenbeld to bring on wide man Jeremie Bela, and by the hour mark, it was 2-2.
Gardner got the first when he powered home from 30 yards and then Bela created the equaliser when he crossed for Crowley to head home his first goal for the club.
Just seven minutes later, Hull were back in front when Barnsley loan man Wilks was fouled and Kane correctly guessed that the wall would jump and simply rolled his low right-foot effort into Blues keeper Lee Camp's right corner.
But Gardner popped up to rescue a second successive draw since emerging from lockdown - and Blues' sixth in seven league games.
Post-match reaction
Birmingham City boss Pep Clotet told BBC Radio WM:
"The game looked gone after 15 minutes. It was uphill for us after that second goal went in.
"But all the subs were super when they came on second half and helped us turn the game.
"The fact Hull scored a third goal helped them get a point because we were in a good moment then. But, although we did not win, we are still one point nearer where we want to be."
Hull manager Gran McCann told BBC Radio Humberside:
"I thought we probably could have been more than 2-0 up in the first half. We had some chances, Mallik had a couple where he just didn't get a shot off.
"The early goal in the second half put them in the ascendancy a little bit, they got their tails up.
"The other two goals we conceded were just criminal, people making a free run into the box and not being tracked.
"But it's another point on the board. Yes, it does feel a bit like a defeat but we've got to try and take the positives out and taken them into Middlesbrough."