Birmingham manager Garry Monk was sent to the stands for his furious reaction to Maikel Kieftenbeld’s sending off but his team clung on for a point at Brentford.
In a 70th-minute flashpoint right in front of the dug-outs, Kieftenbeld raised his hands to Brentford striker Neal Maupay off the ball and was shown a straight red card.
Monk believed Maupay went down too easily under the slightest of touches from his player: ‘It happened right in front of me and it was completely the wrong decision, I was expecting a yellow card for feigning injury.
‘There was a coming together but nothing that warranted that reaction.
‘To see the red card was a complete shock and that’s why we felt aggrieved. But with 10 men we showed unbelievable character.'
Brentford boss Dean Smith said: ‘Kieftenbeld lifted his hands to Neal, but was it enough to go down? Only Neal will know.’
Yet Birmingham successfully saw out the remaining 20 minutes a man light, leaving Brentford frustrated as they went a fourth Championship match without success.
Regarded a potential promotion contenders following a positive start to the campaign, the Bees have regressed in recent weeks and opportunities to snatch three points such as this simply have to be taken.
Second best in the opening 45 minutes, they trailed to Michael Morrison’s header only for Josh McEachran to equalise moments before the break with his first goal in senior football.
From there, you expected Brentford to push forward but the onslaught never materialised, a handful of second-half chances the sum of their efforts against the 11 and the 10 men.
Mind you, they remain in the play-off places even if a number of teams could overtake them on Wednesday evening.
‘They were down to 10 men and we didn’t show that little bit of quality,’ said Smith. ‘It was a strange game. Birmingham came to give us a good game of football and you have to give them credit.'
For some time it seemed that neither team wanted to take a grip on the contest. It was quite surprising that Brentford didn’t seek to seize the initiative given their excellent home record - not to mention the respective league placings - and that handily left the door open for Birmingham.
From around the 20 minute mark they began to dominate proceedings, their purple patch instigated by Jacques Maghoma’s strike from the edge of the box that Luke Daniels got down to.
Jota, one of three former Brentford players in the Blues line-up, then surged down the right and his clever cut-back was dummied by Che Adams to find a completely unmarked Lukas Jutkiewicz in the centre.
Somehow he didn’t manage to beat Daniels, whose fingertips diverted the ball wide of the post.
But Brentford’s respite was short-lived. Birmingham had the bit between their teeth and forced another corner when Henrik Dalsgaard guided a Jutkiewicz snapshot wide.
Jota floated the corner to the near post, where Morrison had peeled off from some slack marking to glance a header that bounced in off the far upright, leaving Daniels and his defenders statuesque and rather shocked.
The Bees, unbeaten in 10 league matches at Griffin Park, hadn’t created anything of note and desperately needed some kind of reaction.
They finally mounted some sustained pressure just before half-time and gained their reward - also from a set-piece.
Alan Judge was fouled by Maghoma on the right-hand side and McEachran seemed to stand over the dead ball for an eternity as referee Lee Robinson tried to get all manner of pushing and shoving inside the six-yard box under control.
He brandished yellow cards in the direction of Maghoma and then Dalsgaard for their grappling and shirt-grabbing in two minutes that resembled a meek teacher trying to hush an excitable classroom.
Perhaps the distraction worked for McEachran, who simply whipped in his delivery to the near post, where the unprepared Camp could only deflect the ball into the net.
Surprisingly, it was McEachran’s first goal in 83 outings for Brentford since leaving Chelsea in 2015 and indeed the 25-year-old’s first-ever goal in senior football.
The hosts did start the second-half with greater purpose and McEachran stung the palms of Camp again. A couple of minutes later, Judge’s clean volley was pushed away one-handed by the Blues keeper.
Seeing Birmingham reduced to 10 men only increased their confidence and, as the game entered its final phase, Sergi Canos saw his shot turned round the post by Camp.
In over eight minutes of stoppage time, Dalsgaard’s header was touched over the top by Camp before another skirmish saw Maupay and Harlee Dean clash in the middle of the park, earning a booking apiece.