3mins A snapshot from Kluivert took a deflection and squirmed across the box to Jenas in space who controlled and picked his spot. 1-0

23mins Dunn played a ball for Yorke to run on to and O'Brien stopped to claim offside. Yorke was level and ran clear, O'Brien chasing and eventually catching up with Yorke as he shot, the ball hit O'Brien's leg and went through Shay's legs, hitting his right peg before nestling in the net. 1-1

Half time: Birmingham City 1 Newcastle 1

57mins A needless free-kick given away by O'Brien was curled into the box by Savage. Upson jumped, largely unchallenged to head past a static Given on the line. 1-2

71mins The ball was only half headed clear to Butt on the edge of the box who took the ball on the volley waist height, taking one bounce before finding the corner. 2-2

Full time: Birmingham City 2 Newcastle 2

Graeme Souness said:

"We could have gone home with the three points if the referee had given the penalty. On another day we'd get that.

"I asked the referee at the end why he didn't see. He said he was 70 yards away. I said to him "but the linesman wasn't".

"But we're happy with a point because there's no way that we could be at our best coming here after the travelling we've had and the game we played in the UEFA Cup.

"We showed a lot of determination and we dug in when the going got tough. It was a very open game. We went 2-1 down and then chased the game and it became very open.

"We got it back to 2-2 and then tried to close up shop. Make no mistake, St Andrews is a difficult place to come and get a result."

Visits to this place never seem to get any better. It's difficult to remember seeing the sun in this depressing part of the world - the friendly that saw Big Les' last game in a black and white shirt is the only time I can remember anything other than blanket grey cloud and rain.

Not just rain this year but an absolute downpour as we parked even further than usual from the ground down some backstreet near a railway bridge and numerous dodgy-looking motor businesses, patrolled not just by Alsatians but seemingly pedigree wolves.

The usual routine awaited us at the ground: fumbling for tickets to pass through the small gate manned by two stewards into the coach car park and then the three lines of constabulary in front of the away turnstiles. Somehow I managed to avoid a body search from the plod or the stewards on the other side of the turnstiles, the trick being just to look in a hurry - kick-off was approaching. Obviously trouble makers with various weapons are in less haste....

For some reason, a dozen or so Newcastle fans decided to empty their bladders at the bottom of the stairs, rather than make the short trip up two small flights to the gents. Odd behaviour - would they do that in their own house I wondered? - on second glance I thought, yes, they probably would.

I presume it's not just me, but I really can't abide seeing a ground of home fans rhythmically clapping their team onto the pitch. You wonder why so few of them abstain and look embarrassed - I couldn't spot any. You half expected buckets of fish being thrown to the performing seals as they put their flippers together but no, they seemingly do this for no reward.

After the handshakes, Big Al's 45 yard attempt at goal went well wide while Shay's nestled perfectly into the back of the net. Shearer turned to smirk at Given while the Irishman grinned proudly. Nice to see that even two of our oldest and experienced campaigners still indulge in petty rivalries and superstitions, as I checked my own "lucky" socks and boxer shorts....

There's nothing like that minute or two before kick-off - for me it's never changed in 30 years. No matter what the competition, the opposition or the venue, the imminent kick-off still sends a shiver down my spine. No matter how puffed-up the Premiership gets and how ludicrous the prices are inflated, I hope that's something I never lose.

About 150 seconds later we took the lead. Kluivert swung a boot at a loose ball on the edge of the Birmingham box and the ball squirmed to his right where Jenas had all the time in the world to control and find his spot, side-footing out of the reach of the stranded Maik Taylor. What a start and not what I'd expected at all. Given the weather, the journey back from Israel and the respective runs of the two teams involved - we'd won five on the trot while Blues hadn't won for five - it was all set-up for the home side to bombard us from the off.

The following 20 minutes then brought us back down to earth. Robbie Elliott was outstanding in mopping up at the back but slowly our passing got sloppy and our forward play faded. Birmingham didn't look particularly threatening, although Yorke had a half decent penalty shout and then almost stretched out a boot to equalise.

It was no surprise when two former Souness players combined to level the scores. Dunn threaded a ball through for Yorke to race clear of O'Brien. The defender lost a vital couple of yards by appealing in vain for offside. Yorke thumped the ball low as O'Brien almost made up the ground and it found the net via O'Brien and Given's legs.

Yorke was only on the pitch as an early substitute for Emile Heskey who had turned his ankle in an innocuous aerial challenge after just nine minutes. Muzzy Izzet was also to leave the fray, this time after a shocking high tackle on Bernard. He could easily have been red-carded for the vicious assault but received a different form of justice by injuring himself in the process. Bernard almost reacted angrily but showed admirable restraint, leaving Izzet to hobble on, eventually leaving on a stretcher to strains of "soft as sh*te" from the away fans.

Either side of half-time the football was frankly awful. Neither side seemed capable of stringing more than a pass or two together and although we looked a lot more balanced with Bellamy up front alongside Shearer, Milner replacing Kluivert at the break, a goal for either team looked distinctly unlikely.

Presumably our pre-match brief included a sentence or two about Birmingham's main threat coming from set-pieces but despite that O'Brien gave away a needless free-kick down our right. Savage delivered a decent ball and with our defence virtually standing on Given's toes, all Upson needed to do was make contact and find a corner which he duly did.

The home crowd were at their nauseating best from then on, with a particularly loud and hypocritical "you're not singing any more" stinging our lot into action. This transmitted onto the pitch and the substitution of Bernard for Robert visibly lifted the side. Minutes later we were back on terms with a superb acrobatic falling volley from Nicky Butt, opening his account for the club.

Celebrations on my part of the terrace were noticeably riotous as a tame affair suddenly threatened to spark into life. Before Souness could allow himself a moment of congratulation about his substitution (a long Robert throw had led to the goal) it became clear that Johnson suddenly had the whole of the right side of the pitch to himself. Three or four times he charged unattended towards our goal but we somehow survived.

At the other end we sensed victory and Bellamy almost converted a Milner corner, his far post header being scrambled off the line. Two penalty shouts were ignored by both referee and linesman as a seemingly blind assistant failed to spot some blatant infringements.

It was end to end stuff played at a breathtaking pace, hardly the thing for the purist but blood and guts Premiership football at its best. Carr fluffed a free-kick but then up stepped Robert to eye up a 35-yarder. Surprisingly City only parked the diminutive figure of Yorke in front of the Frenchman and Robert accepted the invitation to thunder a drive goalward. Taylor watched as the ball thudded the foot of the upright and cannoned out for a throw-in.

By this time, Souness had plugged the gap at left-back, introducing Hughes for Bowyer - a tactically more astute substitution than Bobby's Viana for Robert at this ground last year which ultimately proved costly.

Savage had hit the post at the other end and Given had made two world class stops to keep us in the game and taking all that into account a draw was undoubtedly a fair result, especially after coming back from being 2-1 down. It was still disappointing not to have beaten this rabble again especially after injury had weakened them but both sets of fans left the ground reasonably happy.

Was it value for money? For £38 it was probably more than a quid per minute of entertainment, given that for an hour this was an awful game. Will we vote with our feet next season? Of course not. Is there a price that the money-grabbing porn kings of St. Andrew's could charge that we won't pay? Probably not. We need the FA to step in to protect our loyalty being shamelessly abused.

This inflated Premiership bubble needs to be burst. Even Bolton seem to be trying their luck this season putting their prices up to £35 from £29 - a rise of more than 20%. Perhaps Arsenal and Man United (category 'A') fans will kick up a sufficient fuss when Birmingham fleece them for £45 later in the season. And we haven't even mentioned Chelsea....

Niall MacKenzie

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