Birmingham 1 Manchester United 1

Battling Birmingham set a new club record of 12 games unbeaten after a hard earned draw against 10-man Manchester United.

Cameron Jerome's fifth of the season was cancelled out by Scott Dann's second half own goal, as Blues matched the champions.

United dominated possession but struggled against the hosts' well marshalled backline, with their frustrations compounded by Darren Fletcher sending off for two bookable offences late on.

The home side were unchanged for the ninth consecutive Premier League outing, but were missing the injured Lee Carsley and Stuart Parnaby.

United made seven changes following their shock FA Cup defeat to Leeds as only goalkeeper Tomas Kuszczak, Wes Brown, Jonny Evans and Wayne Rooney remained.

There was no place in the squad for Dimitar Berbatov, dropped after the cup humiliation.

But the much changed visitors settled quickly and Fletcher's early volley deflected wide, before the hosts found their edge and began to harry the champions.

But Blues survived a scare of their own making on 23 minutes, when Stephen Carr missed Patrice Evra's long ball and Rooney nipped in only for his cross to evade Antonio Valencia.

A minute later the England striker was superbly denied by goalkeeper Joe Hart after latching onto Valencia's pass, but his low effort was blocked by a sprawling dive.

United were starting to threaten but were unable to find a way through the ranks of blue and white shirts, as Dann threw himself at Michael Carrick's effort eight minutes before the break.

The midfielder then mis-hit a shot at Hart before Jerome finally caused some consternation in the United box, when Paul Scholes blocked the striker's effort on 38 minutes.

From the resulting corner Blues took an improbable lead when Christian Benitez and Lee Bowyer won headers for Jerome to lash in from five yards.

United had dominated the first half and opened the second under pressure from the reinvigorated Blues and Kuszczak had to be alert to stop Benitez's snap shot.

The visitors were rattled but fought back in controversial style on 62 minutes, when Dann diverted Evra's cross into his own net.

The goal was initially ruled out for offside, but referee Mark Clattenburg correctly overruled his assistant because no United player had touched the ball.

Kuszczak beat out Benitez's drive as Birmingham responded, before Scholes fired over 10 minutes from time.

Fletcher then walked for halting Jerome and Roger Johnson almost won it, but his volley was kept out by Kuszczak.