Hughton frustrated by stalemate

Birmingham manager Chris Hughton was left frustrated as his side lost ground in the race for automatic promotion from the npower Championship following their goalless home draw against Hull.

Birmingham dropped to fifth, five points behind second-placed Southampton, while promotion-chasing Hull were left a point outside the play-offs.

Hughton, whose side remain unbeaten at home this season, said: "It was very frustrating. In the end sometimes you have to hold up your hands.

"It was not one of our better performances. What we were able to do was to get a better performance than in the first period to give us a chance of winning the game.

"I thought Hull have a bit of pace up front. They are good on the counter-attack and a young side which defends very well.

"Over the 90 minutes we didn't play well enough to test their goalkeeper and give ourselves a chance of winning."