Birmingham City snatched a vital point against Everton in their 1-1 draw on Saturday but slipped closer towards the relegation zone with just four more games left in the season.

A quiet game snapped into life in the 78th minute when Joleon Lescott looked to have given all three points to Everton by putting them in the lead. But on loan striker Mauro Zarate continued his brilliant form in front of the goal to score the winner in the 83rd minute.

Everton dominated the few chances that were created in the first half and could have taken a fortuitous lead in the opening minute of the game had Liam Ridgewell's deflected clearance not flown inches wide of the target.

The first real chance of the game came in the 20th minute as Birmingham failed to clear Steven Pienaar's header though Lescott only managed to hit the side netting. Manuel Fernandes almost scored an own goal at the other end but Tim Howard was alert to the danger and managed to clear the ball.

Birmingham almost took the lead in the closing stages of the first half when Jerome saw his header bounce away off the cross bar. Ridgewell had a great chance to put his side in the lead early in the second half but some how managed to hit his shot high over the bar from five yards out.

Birmingham went closer through Jaidi minutes later but Howard pulled off a spectacular save to deny the 32-yeard old before recovering fast to deny McFadden's follow up. Everton soon took the lead in the 78th minute as Lescott flicked home Yakubu's header.

Just as it looked like Everton had done enough to claim victory, Zarate curled in a delightful free kick to pull Birmingham back on level terms and earn a point for his side.