Hull City saw a chance to put a firm grasp on their position in the Championship play-off places pass them by as they were frustrated by Birmingham City in a 1-1 draw at the MKM Stadium.
Sergej Jakirovic's team are now winless in four, although they took the lead on 24 minutes when Joe Gelhardt found space to slot home his 14th goal of the season, before Tomoki Iwata added another fine strike to his personal collection in the latter stages of the contest, to ensure Chris Davies' men halted their own slump away from St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park.
Hull City 1-1 Birmingham City
The opening moments saw both sides trade chances. Iwata fired over from close-range for Blues after a free-kick was only half-cleared by the Tigers, whilst Mohamed Belloumi's low cross at the other end was intercepted by Christoph Klarer before it could reach Oli McBurnie.
The Algerian then brought a fine save out of James Beadle in the 18th minute after a neat interchange between himself and Gelhardt on the break, before the latter gave Hull the breakthrough midway into the first period after turning inside the box from a wide angle as his shot took a minor deflection off Phil Neumann.
It was almost two for the Tigers shortly after the half-hour mark, with Semi Ajayi and McBurnie having two efforts apiece inside the 18-yard box, with Beadle initially clawing the ball to safety ahead of Kai Wagner's final goal-line intervention.
In what was Blues' first chance for some time, Ibrahim Osman then saw a glancing header drift wide of the mark after Carlos Vicente had the beating of Paddy McNair before hanging up an inviting cross. The Spaniard then saw a low effort well-blocked by Matt Crooks five minutes before the interval.
More impressive work from Belloumi on the stroke of half-time could've landed the hosts an important second, but his cross was too quick for the likes of McBurnie and Liam Millar to turn home.
Birmingham then started the second period in the ascendancy, albeit without overly troubling Ivor Pandur, who comfortably gathered Jhon Solis' speculative effort.
Jakirovic's side then put a neat move together on the hour-mark with all of Gelhardt, Belloumi and Millar involved, although the latter eventually saw a first-time effort diverted behind for a corner.
Belloumi remained a constant threat throughout and continued to search for his third goal of the season, although a fizzing strike from 25 yards midway through the second half would cause no issues for Beadle in the Birmingham net.
Blues substitute, Demarai Gray, then forced Pandur into action with a curling effort as the visitors looked for an equaliser in the encounter's latter stages amid tension in the home crowd.
They would do exactly that 13 minutes from time when Iwata unleashed a stunning effort past Pandur after being afforded the time and space to shoot on the edge of the box.
With the pressure firmly on the Tigers to retake the lead, a free-kick only partially cleared by Davies' side fell at the feet of Ajayi, whose shot narrowly drifted wide of Beadle's bottom-right-hand corner with three minutes remaining.
After seven minutes of stoppage-time were allocated, Hull supporters thought a close-range free-kick from McBurnie was goal-bound after taking a deflection off the wall, but it was eventually turned behind for a corner, much to their frustrations.
Ultimately, Hull now have three matches to try and secure their position in the top six, as they are just two points clear of Wrexham and three in front of Derby County, whilst an impressive point for Blues moves them up to 14th on goal difference.
FT: Hull City 1-1 Birmingham City
Player Ratings
Hull City
Ivor Pandur - 6
Lewie Coyle - 7
Semi Ajayi - 7
John Egan - 6.5
Paddy McNair - 6.5 (Giles 84" - 6)
Amir Hadziahmetovic - 6.5 (Joseph 87" - 6)
Matt Crooks - 6.5
Mohamed Belloumi - 7.5 (Hirakawa 84" - 6)
Joe Gelhardt - 7.5 (Dowell 75" - 6)
Liam Millar - 7 (Koumas 75" - 6)
Oli McBurnie - 6.5
Unused Subs: D.Phillips, C.Hughes, A.Famewo, E.Matazo
Birmingham City
James Beadle - 7
Bright Osayi-Samuel - 6.5 (Laird 50" - 6.5)
Phil Neumann - 7
Christoph Klarer - 7.5
Kai Wagner - 7
Tomoki Iwata - 8
Jhon Solis - 7
Carlos Vicente - 7 (Paik 95" - N/A)
Jay Stansfield - 6 (Ducksch 63" - 6)
Ibrahim Osman - 6 (Gray 63" - 6.5)
August Priske - 6 (Cochrane 95" - N/A)
Unused Subs: R.Allsop, J.Robinson, T.Doyle, P.Roberts
Attendance
MKM Stadium in January 2026
The attendance at the MKM Stadium this afternoon was 22,706 and included approximately 2,300 Birmingham City supporters.