A stoppage-time penalty from Birmingham's Demarai Gray denied Bristol City their first Championship win of the season.

In a disjointed first half, neither team looked like scoring until the Robins' Scott Twine responded quickest to his own blocked header in the Birmingham penalty area, firing the ball into the bottom corner.

Blues responded soon after with Carlos Vicente's goalbound shot deflecting off the post and in off the back of Robins' goalkeeper Sam Tickle for an unlikely own goal.

Dom Ballard's sensational backheel flick looked to have won it for the visitors, before Rob Atkinson was penalised for handling in the box, with Gray converting the resulting penalty.

In the opening stages, both sides struggled to fashion clear-cut chances although Twine shot wide before Blues' Bright Osayi-Samuel and Lorent Tolaj, for the visitors, exchanged misses at either end.

In a game that desperately needed a spark, it was the visitors who eventually obliged, getting themselves on the scoreboard for the first time this season after a penalty box melee.

Following a long ball played into the Birmingham half, the ball was headed into the box. Twine's initial header was blocked, but the attacking midfielder responded quickest to poke the ball beyond the despairing James Beadle.

Stung into action, Birmingham equalised on the verge of half-time in similarly chaotic circumstances.

With the ball played in from the wing, Vicente's effort rebounded off the post, with the unfortunate Tickle gaining the distinction of scoring Blues' first goal of the season while playing for the opposition.

Shortly after the break, Twine came close to claiming a second, Beadle barely managing to keep his shot out as the Birmingham defence found itself out of shape.

The Robins were in the ascendancy and Ballard's brilliant backheel sent the travelling fans into raptures, but there was still enough time for Gray to slot home in controversial circumstances after Atkinson had been adjudged to have handled in the box by referee Will Finnie.

Birmingham boss Chris Davies to BBC WM:

"[The game] reminded me of my first game at the club against Reading, we just didn't get going really and we had to dig out a draw in that game and we've done it again today – so hopefully we can push on from here.

"It became a frustrating afternoon, we gave too much away on the counter-attack, we didn't have the fluency of football and connections there and it was a stuffy game. Just an underwhelming feel, we wanted so much more."

"I said to the players, we did show character going down twice at home and recovering from that – we kept going and credit to Demarai, a big moment from him at the end to draw us the match."

Bristol City boss Michael Skubala spoke to BBC Radio Bristol after the match:

"We're frustrated, we felt we did enough to win the game, like we could've scored more goals and if we had taken our chances, at 3-1 the game would've been different.

"It's progress, it's a good performance. It's always tough to come away to Birmingham and get points – we just wanted to go away with three rather than one."

When asked about the decision to award the late penalty against Rob Atkinson:

"We're also frustrated because the decision was a strange one, the referee has an angle, the linesman has an angle, the linesman gives it. Rob Atkinson heads the ball for us - it's a crazy decision."