Own goal saves United

Manchester United needed a controversial own goal from Birmingham defender Scott Dann to salvage a point from a 1-1 draw with Birmingham at St. Andrews as they missed out on the chance to replace Chelsea as Barclays Premier League leaders.

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.

The draw enabled Blues to make club history in achieving their longest ever unbeaten top flight run of 12 games - a run stretching back to October.

The openeing period saw non-stop attacking from United but after 39 minutes Birmingham stunned United by taking the lead in their first worthwhile attack from Jerome.

The former Cardiff player forced a corner when his shot was blocked by Paul Scholes.

United failed to deal with James McFadden's centre, Lee Bowyer headed the ball back across goal and it bounced off Johnny Evans to Jerome, who applied the finishing touch for his fifth goal of the campaign.

Fletcher became the first player to be yellow-carded after 44 minutes for a crude challenge on Bowyer before United finally drew level after 63 minutes through an own goal from Dann.

The central defender was under pressure from Park Ji-Sung when he turned a low centre from Patrice Evra past Joe Hart.

United searched for the winner but their hopes were ended when Fletcher was sent off for a second bookable offence after 84 minutes for a foul on Jerome.