Wigan Athletic 1-1 Birmingham City: Scott Hogan misses penalty as Blues are held by bottom club
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Both of Juninho Bacuna's two goals for Birmingham City have been scored away from St Andrew's
Birmingham City were forced to settle for a draw with Championship strugglers Wigan Athletic after squandering a succession of second-half chances.
Blues looked on course for a much-needed victory at half-time after Juninho Bacuna's early free-kick, his first goal in almost five months.
Christ Tiehi conceded a cheap free-kick just outside the Wigan box and Bacuna curled a beautiful right-foot free-kick over the wall to beat home keeper Ben Amos at his right post.
But Bacuna then picked up a first-half booking, his 10th of the season, which automatically rules him out of Blues' next two games.
Wigan then levelled on the hour when James McClean crossed from the left for the unmarked Ashley Fletcher to net from close range. But Blues then hit the Wigan woodwork three times in five minutes.
After Bacuna was contentiously fouled by Ryan Nyambe, Scott Hogan hit the bar with his penalty, Tahith Chong hit the foot of the post and Max Colin's header came back off the upright before Chong fluffed the rebound wide.
Former Aston Villa forward Shaun Maloney's Wigan then had a late chance to win it themselves when Will Keane latched onto Fletcher's pass to round John Ruddy, but he could only find the side-netting from a very tight angle.
John Eustace's side at least stopped the rot after four successive defeats, but they remain 19th, just seven points above the drop zone.
Wigan's point was enough to climb off the foot of the Championship table to 23rd above Huddersfield Town, who returned to the bottom after being hammered 4-0 at home by Coventry City, but the Latics are now six points adrift of safety.
Who's next?
Wigan Athletic are back in action on Tuesday night with a trip to West Bromwich Albion.
Blues' next game is at home to fellow strugglers Rotherham United next Saturday at St Andrew's.
Wigan Athletic boss Shaun Maloney:
"It's quite a hard game to sum up. They scored an amazing free-kick and then had a crazy five-minute spell in that second half when they hit the woodwork three times.
"We're getting a little bit of bad luck with penalty decisions. But we're also maybe getting a little bit of good luck with the woodwork being hit. Hopefully the good will outweigh the bad in the run-in.
"But, although I know we rode our luck the way the game went, I'm maybe a little bit disappointed we didn't win. They tried to kill the game, which is understandable, but I was pleased with the way we stuck at it right to the death.
"We made the change at half-time. We wanted to be more aggressive in terms of the position of our players and that suited Will Keane to come on."
Birmingham City head coach John Eustace:
"I'm disappointed we didn't win. On the whole, we deserved to win. They had a lot of possession but didn't really cause us a lot of problems.
"Wigan are playing good football now. They're really stretching teams so the work rate the boys put in during that first half was magnificent.
"Obviously the goal was disappointing because we've had a really good week on the training ground defending crosses. But overall the back five were magnificent, as were the midfield three in front of them, and the front two worked their socks off.
"Bacuna has got that in his locker. His recent performances have been very good. He really stepped up to the mark with a couple of young lads alongside him and it was a great performance."