Arsenal 1-1 Birmingham

Jan 13 2008 John Cairns Reports

GARRY O'CONNOR gave fellow Scot Alex McLeish his finest result as Birmingham boss with the goal that earned the Blues a shock draw.

Former Hibee O'Connor struck with a deflected header just after the restart to cancel out Emmanuel Adebayor's penalty opener for Arsenal in 21 minutes.

And it proved enough as Arsene Wenger's frustrated stars - who have now lost top spot to Manchester United - failed to find a way past Big Eck's gutsy side.

McLeish paid tribute to the character of his troops. He said: "We were playing against a special team and the determination of the players got us through.

"Arsenal can go through you like a hot knife through butter and we had to concentrate for 90 minutes.

"We broke them up a few times and defended well. They sniffed the danger and snuffed it out most of the time."

The Gunners have not lost at home in more than 20 games and started brightly. They deserved their lead after Stephen Kelly was ruled to have fouled Eduardo.

But Birmingham had shown in the first half they weren't prepared just to sit in and within three minutes of the restart were level.

O'Connor met Sebastian Larsson's corner and his downward header hit Cesc Fabregas before bulging the net.

Arsenal threw everything into attack and Adebayor had a shot blocked bravely by Liam Ridgewell. But Maik Taylor was Birmingham's hero, saving efforts from Philippe Senderos, Gael Clichy and Mathieu Flamini.

William Gallas had a chance in the dying moments but his effort went inches wide before a Fabregas shot at the death rose just too high.

Wenger rarely criticises his young team who have impressed so much this term.

But he was fuming at their lack-lustre display and accused his players of not giving Birmingham enough respect.

The Frenchman said: "We thought it was going to be too easy and didn't create enough.

We were not sharp enough and they defended well. It is as simple as that.

"It was frustrating. We were punished for losing concentration on the set-piece.

"We lost two points we should not have lost. The focus was not good enough and the players are disappointed."