Birmingham City 1-1 Sheffield United: Blades Show Resiliency to Earn Point With Ten Men | OneFootball

Sheffield United managed to see out a 1-1 draw with ten men away at Birmingham City on Saturday afternoon.

Marvin Duksch got the scoring underway directly from the free-kick which saw Femi Seriki dismissed. But the Blades rallied after this point. Firstly, Sydie Peck saw his penalty saved, but right on the stroke of half-time Patrick Bamford span in behind the Birmingham back line and rounded James Beadle before tapping home into an empty net.

Lineups

Birmingham: Beadle, Laird (Vicente 67), Klarer, Robinson (Panzo 45), Seung-Ho, Solis (Doyle 82), Roberts, Osman (Gray 67), Iwata, Stansfield (Priske 77), Ducksch.

Unused: Allsop, Neumann, Osayi-Samuel, Fujimoto.

Blades: A. Davies, Tanganga, Bindon, Ings (Hoever 25), O’Hare (Hjelde 59), Brooks (T. Davies 71), Burrows, Seriki, Peck, Riedewald (Soumaré 71), Bamford (Cannon 71).

Unused: Faxon, Arblaster, Campbell, Chong.

First Half

The match truly burst into life on 23 minutes in controversial fashion. Femi Seriki was harshly dismissed after bringing down Osman, despite Tyler Bindon appearing close enough to cover the danger. The referee took his time before eventually producing the red card, leaving United to play the majority of the game with ten men.

From the resulting free kick, Ducksch stepped up and curled a superb effort beyond the dive of Davies to give Birmingham the lead. United reshuffled immediately, with Hoever introduced as Ings made way following the sending-off.

Just five minutes later, the drama continued as United were awarded a penalty in bizarre circumstances. Former Blade Jack Robinson, who had only been cautioned earlier, handled the ball while attempting to take a goal kick, despite the ball never having gone out of play. After delay, Sydie Peck stepped up from the spot, but James Beadle guessed correctly to make an excellent save.

As half-time approached both goalkeepers were again called into action. Beadle produced a superb stop to deny Patrick Bamford’s close-range header after Tanganga had won the first contact from Peck’s dangerous set-piece. At the other end, Davies remained alert to block Ducksch at his near post after clever build-up play from Roberts.

United would find their equaliser just before the break. Bamford showed excellent composure to bring down a long ball from Harrison Burrows at full stretch, rounding the goalkeeper before slotting home from a narrow angle.

Second Half

The second half saw Birmingham continue to threaten. As the hour mark approached, Ducksch glanced another header against the woodwork, continuing a frustrating afternoon for the forward.

With the clock ticking down, Ducksch struck the frame of the goal for a third time with a dangerous free kick that had Davies beaten, the ball crashing back off the woodwork once again.