Birmingham City 1-1 Rotherham United: Jeremie Bela's late penalty earns Blues a point against Millers
- Published
Jeremie Bela has scored both of Birmingham's league goals this season
Jeremie Bela's late penalty earned Birmingham a draw after a dramatic finish saw Rotherham take an 87th-minute lead with a spot-kick of their own.
Bela levelled the scores just moments after conceding the penalty which Kieran Sadlier emphatically dispatched to put the Millers ahead.
The visitors went agonisingly close to a first-half lead when Chiedozie Ogbene's shot deflected off Adam Clayton and looped over Neil Etheridge, but just past the post.
Lukas Jutkiewicz went close for the improving Blues after the break when he rose well and sent a looping header against the bar.
Prior to kick-off, the four league games involving these sides this season had produced just three goals, and for 87 minutes they looked to be serving up another blank.
United started the better, Angus McDonald's long-range effort drawing a fine stop from Etheridge, before Mickel Miller's free-kick forced another save.
The Blues did have the ball in the net on the half-hour, but Harlee Dean's header was ruled offside.
Aitor Karanka's side went on to dominate the second half, with Ivan Sanchez's run and shot forcing a save from Jamal Blackman, and Bela curling an effort just wide.
Having scored both of their goals in stoppage-time this season, Rotherham left it late again and appeared to have snatched a winner through Sadlier's penalty after Bela clipped the heels of Ben Wiles.
But Blues equalised almost immediately when Billy Jones' foul on Jon Toral earned Bela his chance from the spot, and the hosts almost snatched a stoppage-time winner when Maxime Colin's goalbound effort was blocked by Jones.
Birmingham boss Aitor Karanka told BBC WM 95.6:
"I think we should have won the game, we had the clearer chances, but when you concede a goal in 88 or 89 minutes, to come back in the last minute and even have a chance to win the game is good.
"But I am a little bit disappointed. We wasted the first 45 minutes because we played in a way we don't know to play, and when we played in our style we were much better in the second half.
"We look like a confident team and are improving in the ways we have to improve."
Millers manager Paul Warne told BBC Sheffield:
"To go 1-0 up with three minutes left in the Championship, it's a bitter blow to lose two points really, they're like little golden nuggets.
"I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. I'm proud of the way we played and I'm proud that we're trying to take games to proper teams in the Championship, but I'm disappointed we didn't take all three.
"I think the lads are better than what they think - we tell them how great they are all the time, but we just have to keep building them up. I could be standing here with seven points and I'm standing here with four."