Everton draw ends Birmingham´s winning streak

Birmingham’s five-match winning streak in the Premier League came to an end with a 1-1 draw away to Everton at Goodison Park here on Sunday.

Diniyar Bilyaletdinov put the Merseysiders, hovering above the relegation zone, in front as early as the fifth minute before Sebastian Larsson equalised with Birmingham’s first shot of the match 17 minutes later.

The draw meant Everton have won just once in their last 11 league matches and are without a home victory since beating Blackburn 3-0 on September 20.

But David Moyes’s men had hope of ending that sequence when they went ahead with a well-worked goal.

Tony Hibbert’s throw was neatly chested into Bilyaletdinov’s path by French striker Louis Saha and the Russian move inside before beating Joe Hart at the goalkeeper’s near post with a left foot shot from 12 yards.

Saha thought he had scored Everton’s second moments later after a clever pass from Australia’s Tim Cahill.

However, his effort was ruled out for offside although replays suggested Saha had been unlucky.

Cahill and Leon Osman went close but Everton were made to pay for not extending their lead when Larsson drew the visitors level.

Larsson exchanged passes in midfield with Christian Benitez and then continued his run before shooting past Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard.

Saha though almost restored Everton’s lead with a back-header that went narrowly over the crossbar.

Everton continued to push forward after half-time but Birmingham held firm as they extended their unbeaten run to eight matches.