Birmingham 1 Villa 1

Villa defender James Collins cancelled out Roger Johnson's opening goal for Birmingham as a pulsating Second City derby ended in a draw.

Blues looked like they had wrapped up the points when Johnson turned in a Craig Gardner free-kick in the 49th minute.

But Villa battled back and equalised in the 73rd minute when Collins' shot took a deflection off Liam Ridgwell and beat goalkeeper Ben Foster.

Without the suspended Emile Heskey and Ashley Young, manager Gerard Houllier recalled John Carew to the starting line-up.

It was the Norway striker's first start since Villa lost 4-2 to Arsenal at the end of November, while Collins return to the side at the expense of Carlos Cuellar who dropped to the bench.

Birmingham manager Alex McLeish handed a debut to on-loan Tottenham midfielder David Bentley, while David Murphy came in at left-back and Matt Derbyshire started in attack with Sebastian Larsson, Cameron Jerome and Scott Dann out injured.

Villa flew out of the blocks and Gabby Agbonlahor had a golden opportunity to open the scoring, dashing past Stephen Carr in the first minute but somehow failing to hit the target from barely six yards out.

Stewart Downing lashed a long-range effort wide moments later, before Ridgewell headed wide from a Keith Fahey cross in a breathless start to the match.

Villa's wide players continued to cause problems for goalkeeper Foster, who saw the ball glance off the crossbar in the first half from crossing positions.

Blues then had a great chance in the 21st minute when Gardner got the better of Kyle Walker and picked out Derbyshire, but snatched at the ball and missed the target from close range.

The home fans felt they should have had a penalty just before the half-time interval, when Alexander Hleb's shot appeared to strike the arm of Walker before he was knocked off the ball by Albrighton.

There was no let up in the second-half and Blues took the lead in the 49th minute when Collins brought down Hleb outside the area.

Gardner's shot from the resulting free-kick took a deflection of David Murphy and defender Roger Johnson was able to poke the ball past flat-footed goalkeeper Brad Friedel.

Blues were now firmly on top and Derbyshire brought a fine diving save out of Friedel with a low shot from the right.

But it was Villa who equalised in the 73rd minute, after Walker won the ball back off Johnson on the right flank and laid it off to Albrighton.

The young winger's delivery was met by the head of Agbonlahor and the ball fell to Collins, who executed a shot on the turn which deflected off Ridgewell and past Foster.

Villa could have taken the lead on the counter attack two minutes later, when Downing forced Foster to save at his near post before Dunne cleared off the line at the other end when Blues hit on the break.

With five minutes left on the clock, Nathan Delfouneso almost score a spectacular long-range winner with a shot which rebounded back off the crossbar, before fellow substitute Nikola Zigic headed over for Blues in the dying moments.