Aston Villa 2 Birmingham 2
The passion was there for everyone to see, as Villa looked to continue their recent good form, but after dominating the opening hour and establishing a fine lead through Darius Vassell and Thomas Hitzlsperger, Mikael Forssell's goal turned the game.
Villa played some wonderful football at times, and but for Vassell's wasteful finishing could have put the game out of Blues' reach, with Juan Pablo Angel also guilty of missing two gilt edged chances.
There was a sense of inevitability when, four minutes into stoppage time, Birmingham threw everything forward and John pounced to earn a draw with virtually the last kick of the game, when Clinton Morrison's shot was parried.
Villa will look back on 60 minutes of outright domination and wonder how they did not take three points.
Birmingham had already escaped a major scare, Darren Purse heading against his own post after the superb Nolberto Solano had curled in a wicked cross, when Vassell opened the scoring.
The England international benefited from fine play from Gareth Barry on the left, the midfielder cutting back inside and pulling back for his team-mate to blast home with consummate ease.
Vassell is still hoping to be in Sven Goran Eriksson's England squad for Euro 2004, but despite his superb approach play was certainly not at his sharpest - failing to hit the target when well placed, and then putting a free header too close to Maik Taylor - who nevertheless had to produce a decent stop.
At the other end Forssell looked the pick of the Blues strikers - with Christophe Dugarry cleary out of sorts, and the Finn nearly connected with an awkward cross, only for Thomas Sorensen to race out and cover.
The second half brought a wonderful second for Hitzlsperger. The German midfielder is renowned for his powerful shots, and he blasted home unstoppably when the ball dropped to the edge of the area.
Angel then should have made it three but shot straight at Taylor, and suddenly Birmingham broke away and scored to make things difficult for their hosts.
The arrival of Morrison for Dugarry, and David Dunn in midfield, had immediately upped the tempo, and the former did superbly to roll his marker and give Forssell a shooting chance which flashed past Sorensen and into the back of the net.
The Villa bench were furious, believing the ball had gone out of play in the build-up, but could have been even more annoyed when Forssell and then Morrison drew good blocks from Sorensen.
There was still time for Angel to produce another terrible miss. Luke Moore, making his debut, laid a chance on a plate only for the Colombian to place his shot wastefully wide.
Four minutes of injury time saw Birmingham throw everything forward in the hope of punishing Villa's wastefulness - and it was another substitute, John that broke Villan hearts by lashing gleefully home at the death.
