Hull City 1-1 Birmingham City: Lukas Jutkiewicz strike earns Blues a point at Tigers

Ozan Tufan gave Hull a first-half lead against Birmingham

Lukas Jutkiewicz scored a minute after coming on as a substitute to earn Birmingham a precious Championship point at Hull City.

The Birmingham club captain watched from the bench as Ozan Tufan got the final touch to put the Tigers ahead in the first half, with Blues players adamant he had used his arm to beat goalkeeper John Ruddy.

Birmingham, who began the night level on points with third-from-bottom Stoke, struggled to make inroads against a Hull side looking to strengthen its grip on the sixth and final play-off spot.

Caretaker Blues manager Mark Venus had made a quadruple substitution on the hour mark as his team were frustrated, but it was the appearance of Jutkiewicz - who also scored the Birmingham goal in the 1-1 FA Cup draw between these two in January - that proved to be the telling moment.

Birmingham had lost their previous two games to slip into deep relegation trouble, and they knew they could have been in the bottom three after this round of midweek matches if results elsewhere were unfavourable.

Caretaker manager Mark Venus made four changes from the side that lost a seven-goal thriller with Southampton on Saturday, and Juninho Bacuna's cross almost forced Jacob Greaves into an own-goal in the opening stages.

With Jean Michael Seri forcing a sharp save from Ruddy, neither side seized the early initiative, but Tufan put the hosts ahead with a controversial goal on 25 minutes.

Tufan had been benched for the previous three games but he popped up at the far post to turn the ball over the line after defender Greaves had headed on a corner.

Ruddy and his defenders protested vehemently that it had been the arm of the Turkey international that had got the final touch.

Tufan almost made life comfortable for Hull by hitting the post before half-time, but Venus expressed some frustration with his team's toothlessness by sending on Paik Seung-ho, George Hall, Alex Pritchard and Jay Stansfield before the hour mark.

It was still Hull who came closest to scoring again, as Jaden Philogene teed up Fabio Carvalho but he failed to hit the target.

The arrival of Jutkiewicz, who has four goals despite making only six starts this season, changed the course of the game, as Alex Pritchard angled an accurate cross into the box and the striker rose between Greaves and Alfie Jones to firmly head home.

The equaliser means Hull will slip out of the play-off places if Norwich win at Middlesbrough on Wednesday, but it lifted Birmingham to 19th - a point ahead of fellow strugglers Stoke, Huddersfield and Queens Park Rangers.

Hull City head coach Liam Rosenior told BBC Radio Humberside:

"It feels like a loss. It's the most angry I've been, because we've thrown points away.

"I'm really, really disappointed with the result because we should have been out of sight at half-time, but there was a lack of ruthlessness from the positions we got into, and this isn't the first time.

"I'm not throwing anyone under the bus. I'm included, we have to be more ruthless, because even going back to Southampton we should have been 4-0 up at half-time, and again against Preston there was a lack of killer instinct.

"The players on the pitch should be scoring from the positions they are in. They are good enough, but there needs to be a little more belief and a little more devilment in what we do."

Birmingham City caretaker manager Mark Venus told BBC Radio WM:

"It's a big point for us. It stops the rot after two defeats, even though we were playing good teams (Ipswich and Southampton). We fought, we battled, we stuck at it and in the end we got what we deserved.

"The bench gave us an impetus when they came on. They gave us a freshness and a quality player - Alex Pritchard - made a difference and the Juke coming on helped the team have a focal point, and he has a habit of scoring here, so good on him.

"If you take Saturday's game we have five games in 16 days, so we have to keep utilising the squad.

On the Hull goal being possible handball:

"I don't know how they failed to get that one, but again it's a decision that goes against us. Hopefully as the season unfolds we might get a decision that goes for us."