Manchester City's title ambitions were dealt another blow Saturday when the team was held 0-0 by Birmingham and then booed off the field by the home fans.
It was the second straight scoreless draw for City at Eastlands after being held by crosstown rival Manchester United on Wednesday.
James Milner came closest to breaking the deadlock for City just 15 seconds after the interval when his shot was cleared off the line by Stephen Carr.
City remains in fourth place with 22 points but have now won just one match from their last five Premier League outings and have not scored a league goal on home soil since the beginning of October.
The fans started showing their displeasure when City manager Robert Mancini took off striker Carlos Tevez for defensive midfielder Gareth Barry in the second half, despite Birmingham looking content to settle for a draw.
Tevez raised a rueful eyebrow as he took his place in the dugout, leaving Mancini to face the ire of his own supporters.
''I am frustrated as well,'' Mancini said. ''I wanted to win. I don't want to draw or lose. Carlos has had a little injury for two or three weeks and I felt if we took off that player we might have more chances to score. ... All supporters are like this, in England and Italy. I must think like a manager. We can play wide, get the ball into the box, then we can score. Supporters just think why don't you put more strikers in the box, two, three, four, five.''
City rarely threatened either, as Ben Foster didn't make a save the entire first half. Tevez did put the ball in the net but was ruled to have handled David Silva's cross.
Aleksandar Kolarov and Adam Johnson were both given rare starts by Mancini but didn't take advantage, with both sending ambitious efforts wide to draw groans from home supporters.
Milner had the best chance to break the deadlock just after the break. Foster repelled the midfielder's first effort but Milner seemed sure to tuck the rebound home, only for Carr to pop up and make a fine goalline clearance.
City played with greater purpose after the break, but Tevez, Milner and Yaya Toure all wasted decent chances.
With Emmanuel Adebayor out injured, Roque Santa Cruz made his first Premier League appearance of the season and almost had an immediate impact, slipping an intelligent pass through for Tevez, who dragged his shot wide.
''I was never comfortable,'' Birmingham manager Alex McLeish said. ''The second half in particular was a bit scary but the longer the game went I felt we could just nick something.''
