Manchester United needed a controversial own goal from Birmingham defender Scott Dann to salvage a point at St. Andrews as they missed out on the chance to replace Chelsea as Barclays Premier League leaders.
The Blues were incensed referee Mark Clattenburg allowed the equaliser to stand after 63 minutes, cancelling out Cameron Jerome's first-half opener, and he consulted with one of his assistants before awarding the goal.
The Red Devils ended with 10 men after midfielder Darren Fletcher was sent off in the closing stages for a second bookable offence.
Under McLeish Birmingham have become a solid unit. They tried to play, but a policy of containment was always going to be the more realistic.
Forming a barricade around their goal from the first minute, they fought, relying on an opportunistic strike from Cameron Jerome to bring joy. For 60 minutes United’s strike force crashed on the Birmingham back four as waves on a storm wall. Then it happened, Scott Dann equalising for United with an own goal.
Birmingham extended their run of 11 matches unbeaten to 12, a club record. The last time Birmingham went 11 games unbeaten, in 1908, the run was ended by United, and Birmingham ended the season bottom of the old First Division. There is no danger of history repeating itself.
Teams have learnt that they must come to St Andrews and fight on the home side’s terms. As such there was no place even on the bench for Dimitar Berbatov.
Ferguson instead calling on the workmanlike Ji-Sung Park, Paul Scholes, making his first appearance since mid-December, anchoring in front of the back four. Benitez, crumpled by his countryman Antonio Valencia.
Sir Alex Ferguson had demanded a response after the FA Cup reversal against Leeds and made seven changes to his starting line-up.
He could not have complained about the commitment and determination of his players and they completely dominated the opening 45 minutes and yet trailed to Birmingham's only shot on goal from Jerome.
But Birmingham showed the tenacity and fighting spirit which has been their trademark during an 11-game unbeaten run leading into this fixture.
And in the second half they posed more of a threat via the pacey Christian Benitez and United's Tomasz Kuszczak was the busier of the two keepers.
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