Birmingham City

Birmingham City 2-2 Blackpool

By Jack Prescott, Rugby Editor | 09 May 2012

A 2-2 draw on the night at St Andrews gives Blackpool a 3-2 aggregate victory over Birmingham in their Championship playoff semi-final.

Blackpool have reached the Championship playoff final after a 2-2 draw at Birmingham City.

The result on the night has seen the Seasiders win the tie 3-2 on aggregate.

Blackpool's Tom Ince looked to be the most dangerous player in the opening exchanges, but the forward's first effort on goal was saved by Colin Doyle.

Ince was claiming for a penalty soon after when he believed that he was fouled in the box, but referee Chris Foy waved away the appeals.

As the hosts edged their way back into the match, Chris Burke saw his curled shot go narrowly wide of the post.

Birmingham's best chance of the opening 45 minutes came from Marlon King as the striker's back-post drive came back off the woodwork.

Ian Holloway's team took the lead at the end of the half when Stephen Dobbie was on hand to fire in after Alex Baptiste's overhead kick had hit Curtis Davies.

The Seasiders increased their lead minutes after the break as Matt Phillips's effort went in off the post.

However, Birmingham began their comeback in the 64th minute when Nikola Zigic struck a calm finish past Matt Gilks following Burke's incisive pass.

It was all square on the night with 15 minutes to play thanks to Davies's header from a corner.

Despite a late surge from Birmingham as they looked for the goal that would have taken the match to extra time, Blackpool stood firm in defence to set up a final against West Ham United.