Birmingham City claimed a rare point on their travels as they came from behind to draw 1-1 at Swansea City.

Swansea were on course for a fifth successive Championship home win after Zan Vipotnik's cushioned volley gave them a first-half lead.

Vitor Matos' team went on to hit the woodwork three times, but their failure to find a second goal meant Patrick Roberts' close-range drive was enough for the draw.

The Blues' run without an away league victory stretches to eight matches, though this was a welcome result given that Chris Davies' team have banked only six points from the past 39 on offer on their travels.

Swansea, who drew for the first time in 11 league games under Matos, climb a place to 16th in the table - though the gap to the bottom three is down to six points - with Birmingham two points better off in 14th.

The hosts' goal came after Goncalo Franco got to the ball ahead of Kai Wagner down the Birmingham left and delivered a driven cross which Vipotnik met first time, his instinctive effort bouncing into the net despite a touch from James Beadle.

Birmingham's keeper then did superbly to deny Swansea a well-crafted second goal, with Franco's left-foot shot bound for the far corner until England Under-21 international Beadle pushed the ball on to the bar.

Birmingham had their moments in the first period, with Marvin Ducksch seeing an effort blocked, Roberts firing wastefully over and Kyogo Furuhashi making the wrong contact with Tomoki Iwata's cross when he seemed odds-on to score at the far post.

Swansea came close to extending their advantage early in the second half when Ronald thumped a half-volley against the woodwork after a corner was not cleared.

The Swans were made to pay for their profligacy when, with midfielder Jay Fulton off the pitch after treatment on a head injury, Wagner's cross was helped on by Ducksch and on-loan Sunderland winger Roberts wriggled into a yard of space before drilling home via the underside of the bar.

Substitute Jay Stansfield was then denied the chance to put Birmingham ahead by Fulton's superb last-ditch tackle, before Swansea came within inches of having the last laugh when Liam Cullen's fine header bounced to safety off the bar.

Davies, a former Welsh youth international, was back on familiar territory having been on Brendan Rodgers' staff when the Northern Irishman led Swansea to the Premier League 15 years ago.

The Birmingham boss said before returning to Wales that there was a "good feel" around the club in the wake of a home success against Coventry City and last weekend's FA Cup triumph at Cambridge.

This draw maintains momentum for Davies' side, even if Swansea will feel they did enough to triumph.

Vipotnik's 11th league goal of the season means he is now the joint leading scorer in the Championship.

Matos may be left ruing the fact that none of his team's other big opportunities fell to his in-form centre-forward.

Swansea head coach Vitor Matos:

"I think it was a good game from our side, especially the first half. I was really happy, really proud of the boys.

"I think someone said a nice word, tenacity. I think it was really good from the players. I think we were sharp, we were dominant, we were aggressive. We controlled the game, had chances, scored the goal.

"Second half, I think Birmingham came with more intensity, more aggressive as well. They pushed us a little bit back but we still didn't lose the organisation, which is important.

"After they scored create chances as well, we could have won the game. We didn't. What we need to focus is on the performance and what to get the best out of that."

Birmingham manager Chris Davies:

"I think if we are going to improve away from home, it's going to be these types of performances in terms of the character, the grit, the determination, all those intangibles that you need in a game. I think they were all there today and I think we can view that as a good point and move on.

"It was a tight start, I would say. But then Swansea had their tails up a little bit and got hold of the ball and more possession than I would have liked them to have, but sometimes you can't sort of stop that because they are a good footballing team. Then to go a goal down gave us obviously a bit of a mountain to climb.

"But we still had our moments in the first half so I felt like the game was well and truly alive and I said that to the players at half-time - we're right in this game, but we need to be more aggressive.

"I thought we saw a much better performance in the second half."