The dawn of the new Championship season at St Andrew’s was marred by controversy as Birmingham City were denied by a stoppage time penalty.

George Hirst converted in the 95th minute to cancel out Jay Stansfield’s opener and stop Blues from recording what would have been a deserved victory against Ipswich Town.

Andrew Kitchen adjudged Lyndon Dykes to have handled the ball at an Ipswich corner and he didn’t get much else right on a bad night for the referee.

Here are our talking points after Blues start with a point…

Blues match the favourites

The first game of the season is rarely going to be free-flowing, fantastic football. There is plenty of time for that.

Blues matched the enthusiasm of a white-hot St Andrew’s crowd to create the better openings and keep Ipswich, who many fancy

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