‘Mixed emotions’ for Birmingham’s Chris Davies and Sheff Wed’s Henrik Pedersen

Rival bosses Chris Davies and Henrik Pedersen said they felt “mixed emotions” after Demarai Gray’s equaliser deep into stoppage time saw the spoils shared following a dramatic 2-2 draw.

Birmingham boss Davies was “relieved, happy but frustrated” after claiming the hosts deserved more.

His opposite number bemoaned the fact that the Owls had relinquished two points in the ninth minute of added time but said he was proud of the way his players overcame the club’s latest financial issues to concentrate on the job in hand.

Birmingham opened the scoring in the ninth minute when Jay Stansfield produced a superb finish on the half-volley after blocking a clearance by Harry Amass.

But a mistake from Eiran Cashin allowed Jamal Lowe to send the visitors into the break on level terms.

It appeared Sheffield Wednesday would take a much-needed victory back to Hillsborough when George Brown stepped off the bench to slot home Barry Bannan’s free-kick at the far post with 14 minutes to go.

However, that sparked a furious reaction from the hosts who were protecting an unbeaten 28-game run in the league on their own patch.

Davies told goalkeeper Ryan Allsop to move upfield and ordered central defender Christoph Klarer to do likewise.

The ball bobbled around Wednesday’s area and finally fell to Gray whose acrobatic finish sparked wild scenes.

Davies said: “It was mixed emotions – ones of relief and happiness with the way we got the equaliser.

“But I’m frustrated that we have let the game get away from us. We should have been winning that game.

“We have conceded a goal out of nothing. It knocked the team and we had a wobble. They then score from a set-piece and we go 2-1 down from their first attack in the second half and we should have been two or three up.

“When Demarai scored it was pure emotion from me celebrating from the team because we had pushed so hard to get something.”

It was a bitter pill for Pedersen’s men as Wednesday arrived at St Andrew’s on the back of yet more bad news.

Staff wages were due to be met on the day of the game but only a partial payment had been made, leaving the entire club in limbo.

Pedersen said: “My emotions are a little bit mixed. The negative is that we have lost two points at the end.

“But in the big picture, there is a very proud emotion inside me because of the performance my players have delivered today in a difficult situation.

“We conceded a goal and they stayed together. You can always find a reason not to do something but we stayed together.

“It wasn’t about tactics, tonight was about the basic level of humanity.

“The referee found a lot of minutes at the end. You can be disappointed you didn’t get three points but we have to be proud of the performance in the circumstances.

“Everyone knew the situation. We haven’t spoken about it today.

“We have used all of our energy on the performance. If we had wasted energy on this we would have lost energy from the performance.”