Huddersfield 1-1 Birmingham: Spoils shared at John Smith's Stadium

Lukas Jutkiewicz scored his fifth goal of the season to snatch a point as Birmingham drew 1-1 at Huddersfield.

Jutkiewicz, who had a loan spell at Huddersfield as a youngster, cancelled out a goal from Elias Kachunga.

Huddersfield dominated the game without finding a cutting edge but looked set for all three points when Kachunga struck in the second half.

The lead only lasted four minutes as Jutkiewicz claimed a point Birmingham barely deserved.

Huddersfield almost went ahead in the fifth minute when Kachunga was denied from a corner.

Kasey Palmer's kick found Kachunga unmarked at the back post but his acrobatic volley was headed over by Ryan Shotton.

Birmingham keeper Tomasz Kuszczak was equal to a fierce 20-yard strike from Nahki Wells, punching the ball straight back out, and he was needed again shortly afterwards.

Chris Lowe's cross from the left found right-back Tommy Smith, whose shot from distance was held by Kuszczak despite a late lunge by Wells who attempted to divert the ball past him.

A Wells free-kick drifted wide but the home side continued to exert pressure, with Jonathan Grounds twice getting in vital headers to keep Huddersfield out.

While it was all Huddersfield in the first half, Birmingham had a breakaway chance in the 25th minute when David Cotterill crossed from deep for Jutkiewicz to flick a header just wide.

Wells had another sight of goal in first-half stoppage time when he ran onto a pass from Palmer but again Kuszczak got down to save at the second attempt.

Town kept up the momentum into the second half and Wells was unlucky to be denied again when his header struck a defender from Kachunga's cross.

Jonathan Hogg hit a beauty from 25 yards but he was too far out to test Kuszczak.

Smith fired just inches over the top before Town head coach David Wagner replaced Sean Scannell and Palmer with Rajiv van La Parra and Jack Payne. That lifted Huddersfield but Payne's low shot was easy for Kuszczak.

Town broke the deadlock in the 69th minute when Aaron Mooy spread the play to Smith on the right. Kachunga reacted first, taking the ball and firing home across the keeper and in off the far post.

Wells almost sealed it two minutes later with a brilliant 20-yard shot on the turn which struck the bar and went over.

City salvaged a point in the 73rd minute when Mooy conceded a hotly-disputed free-kick just outside the area. Cotterill's delivery was headed back across goal by Grounds for Jutkiewicz to head past Danny Ward.

Wells was denied a penalty when he went down in the box six minutes from time as the game finished all square.

Huddersfield boss David Wagner:

"After Fulham we needed to repair and show some reaction and the players did that. But sometimes in football you don't get what you deserve. I am not disappointed, more frustrated. I thought we totally deserved the win.

"Overall the performance was good. We know that if we stick together and show our identity on the pitch in every game we are competitive in this league."

Birmingham boss Gary Rowett:

"In the first half we didn't do enough and didn't show Championship quality. In the second half I thought we grew into the game and we made two brave attacking substitutions. That looked like a very good decision when we scored, but not so good afterwards.

"It was a very competitive game, if somewhat bitty with the referee stopping the game. There were a couple of bookings for our centre-halves for winning the ball, which is ridiculous, but apart from that it was a fair result. It was a good point gained and another point to build on after the Aston Villa result last week."