Manchester City 0 Birmingham 0

Birmingham defended superbly to earn a hard-fought goalless draw away at high-flying Manchester City.

The visitors, who had never won away against their hosts in the Premier League, were frequently often under the cosh, but they survived a late onslaught by Roberto Mancini's title-chasers to earn a draw.

Manchester City dominated possession in the first-half, passing the ball majestically but with little end product.

Nigel De Jong created the first real chance when he won the ball well from Craig Gardner 16 minutes in.

Yaya Toure gathered the pass and found Carlos Tevez on the edge of the area, but the Argentine shot just wide from a tight angle.

Aleksandar Kolarov then smashed a long-range shot well over the bar after gathering the loose ball following Tevez' mazy run.

But Blues had a good penalty shout waved away 31 minutes in, when Adam Johnson appeared to push Ridgwell over in the area as he gathered the knockdown from Craig Gardner's long ball pass.

Barry Ferguson's quick-thinking almost created a great chance for Roger Johnson from a swiftly-taken free-kick.

But the defender, who had made a smart run into the box, could not quite reach Ferguson's chipped pass.

Blues thought they had opened the scoring five minutes before half time but Tevez's close range effort was disallowed as offside.

The striker was then shown a yellow card for dissent, but City finished a drab half the stronger side, as Johnson shot just wide from a fast break in the dying minutes.

Milner could have opened the scoring within 25 seconds of the restart after dribbling round goalkeeper Ben Foster, but Stephen Carr heroically blocked the shot on the line.

Gardner, who was struggling with a leg injury, was replaced by Lee Bowyer five minutes into the second half.

And the Blues midfielder did just enough to put off Yaya Toure, who fired wide from the edge of the box five minutes later.

Adam Johnson was next to miss for City, dragging his shot wide off Milner from the edge of the box.

The arrival of Alexander Hleb for Nikola Zigic livened up Blues attack and they gave Man City a few scares in the final 25 minutes, as the Belarussian drove forward.

But Ferguson almost gifted Tevez a goal with 22 minutes left when the striker gathered his awful back pass.

But the Scotsman's blushes were spared as Tevez dragged his shot just wide from the angle.

Tevez and Johnson both failed to hit the target late on, as City poured forward in search of a first home win in four.

However, Blues defended deeply and held on for an important point.