SEBASTIAN LARSSON earned 10-man Birmingham an FA Cup third round replay with a late equaliser against Glenn Roeder's injury-ravaged side at St Andrews.

The on-loan Arsenal player, who is on the verge of a permanent move, hooked the ball home from close range with just four minutes remaining. The Blues had been reduced to 10 men when defender Rahdi Jaidi was sent off shortly before half-time for a professional foul.

The magic of the FA Cup had however apparently bypassed Birmingham, with thousands of empty seats . . . a sharp contrast to the 4,000 travellers from Newcastle.

Nicky Butt was booed by the home fans who had bothered to turn up and remembered his topsy-turvy loan spell at St Andrews.

Newcastle, again severely depleted by injuries, made a positive start in the rainswept conditions.

Despite that however, it was Birmingham who took the lead after only 15 minutes. Larsson's inswinginging corner was met at the far post by Matthew Upson, who climbed above David Edgar to head back across goal for DJ Campbell to poke the ball home with his left foot.

But in the 40th minute Newcastle drew level when no-one picked up the run of Steven Taylor to the near post and he prodded home Milner's free-kick.

City were reduced to 10 men after 42 minutes when Jaidi brought down Martins inches outside the penalty area following a long clearance from Solano.

Maik Taylor did well to hold onto the resulting freekick from Milner.

With their numerical advantage, Newcastle started to turn the screw and they went ahead after 54 minutes through Kieron Dyer's third goal in the last five games.

Martins' pass appeared to slide under the foot of Matthew Upson to allow Dyer a clear run at goal and he drilled his shot past Maik Taylor into the corner of the net.

It wasn't to be enough though as a resolute Birmingham salvaged the game.