Birmingham boss Steve Bruce praised the resilience of his side and the backing of the supporters after a last-gasp goal from DJ Campbell rescued a point against Coca-Cola Championship promotion rivals Sunderland at St Andrew's.
The Black Cats had dominated the opening 45 minutes and deservedly led through Carlos Edwards’ third goal since his #1.5million move from Luton last month. But Campbell came off the substitutes’ bench to convert a cross from Rowan Vine to extend the home side’s unbeaten run to four games.
Bruce said: "In the first half Sunderland were excellent. They caused us a lot of problems and scored a wonderful goal.
"Under Roy Keane Sunderland are a different team to the one at the start of the season so all credit to him. They are a threat and have a go every chance.
"But my players are a resilient lot and stuck at it. We had opportunities in the second half to have won it although that may not have been fair.
"The fans were also fantastic tonight. They got behind the team and they responded. The second half was a fantastic advert for the Championship."
Keane felt his side paid the penalty for failing to kill off Birmingham during the first half they completely dominated.
He said: "When you are 1-0 up, there is always a chance you might concede. We always needed the second goal to kill off the game.
"If we had got that I think we would have gone on to win. We had the chances to do that and if you don’t put them away it can come back to hurt you.
"Give some credit to Birmingham. They kept going, are going to be up there at the end of the season, and maybe a draw was a fair result.
"I still think Birmingham and Derby are clear favourites to go up and we’ve only just got into the play-off positions."
