Birmingham 1 Sunderland 1: Birmingham substitute DJ Campbell rescued a precious point for Steve Bruce's side with a last-gasp equaliser in the Championship clash at St Andrews.
The former warehouse worker- — whose two goals for Brentford knocked the Wearsiders out of last season's FA Cup - broke Sunderland's hearts again when he converted Rowan Vine's centre in the 90th minute.
It was rough justice on the Roy Keane's side, who had looked to have secured victory thanks to Carlos Edwards' third goal since his move from Luton last month.
Sunderland totally dominated the opening 45 minutes with skipper Dean Whitehead and Dwight Yorke bossing the midfield and the pace of guile of Edwards and Anthony Stokes on the flanks causing constant problems for the home side.
The Blues defence also struggled to cope with the threat of Stern John and David Connolly and there was a confidence and belief about Sunderland after they entered the top six for the first time this season via the weekend win over Southend.
City seemed devoid of belief and inspiration despite having the opportunity to replace Derby at the top of the table had they collected all three points.
They improved dramatically in the second 45 minutes but the best opportunities still fell to the visitors until Campbell came off the bench to level matters.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)