MAURO ZARATE may have more than Argentinian nationality in common with Carlos Tevez. Goals from Tevez, dubiously “on loan”, kept West Ham in the Premier League last season, now Zarate, with four in four games, looks like doing the same for Birmingham. The 21-year-old striker, borrowed from Al-Sadd of Qatar, scored two in the victory over Manchester City a fortnight ago and his equaliser yesterday, from a 25-yard free kick, was worth another priceless point in the fight for survival. “A beautiful goal,” was how his grateful manager, Alex McLeish, described it.

The point was more use to Birmingham in their fight for survival in the Premier League than it was to Everton, whose pursuit of fourth place and Champions League football next season seems increasingly forlorn.

Everton had taken the lead with a close-range header from Joleon Lescott, the centre-half’s ninth goal of the season, but the relegation-threatened Blues fought back gamely and deserved their draw. They would have had all three points, and moved above Reading in the table, but for a couple of top-notch saves by Tim Howard.

McLeish’s spirited grafters are good enough to survive but, in the words of their song, they will have to keep right on to the end of the road to do it. It was something of a surprise that McLeish relegated Zarate to the bench, even if it was to accommodate James McFadden, who was the man of the match. The young striker has yet to decide whether to stay at St Andrews beyond the end of the season, and being dropped after scoring twice will give him food for thought. When he finally came on, with a quarter of an hour left, he quickly demonstrated that he should never have been left out.

A notable absentee for Everton was Mikel Arteta, who has a stomach muscle injury. His invention was missed, as was the creativity of Tim Cahill and Leon Osman. Phil Neville and Lee Carsley have their merits, but clever playmakers they are not. “We’re not in the best place at the moment because of injuries,” Everton manager David Moyes said. “Our midfield resources have been drained completely. I’d like to give a few people a rest, but I can’t.”

Neither team lacked motivation, but their respective pressures did nothing for the quality of the football, and a safety-first approach translated into a surfeit of long balls played into the channels for the strikers to chase. The first decent chance was the product of a comedy of errors in the Birmingham defence, Steve Pienaar’s headed flick supplying Lescott, whose threatening presence on the edge of the six-yard box panicked Maik Taylor, Stephen Kelly and Liam Ridgewell into “after-you” hesitation. Lescott was therefore able to get in a left-footed shot on the turn that Taylor was relieved to see scrape the side netting. Birmingham were forced into an unwelcome change after 24 minutes when Sebastian Larsson limped off to be replaced by Cameron Jerome, whose header hit Howard’s right-hand post 16 minutes later.

Injury undermined Birmingham’s prospects a second time when their leading scorer, Mikael Forssell, was unable to resume after the interval and was replaced by the less than prolific Garry O’Connor. Early in the second half McFadden, who was playing against his old club for the first time, had a goal-bound shot diverted behind by Jagielka and the consequent corner, taken on the right by McSheffrey, produced one of the misses of the season when Ridgwell, barely three yards out, somehow contrived to shoot over the gaping goal.

McFadden, nothing if not persistent, tested Howard with a well-struck free kick from 25 yards, then Everton, in search of all three points, sent on an extra striker, Victor Anichebe, in place of midfielder Pienaar. The substitute had a decent shooting opportunity within minutes of his introduction, but wasted the opening with a weak, inaccurate shot.

Birmingham would have taken the lead but for a stunning double save from Howard, denying first Radhi Jaidi and then McFadden. Instead it was Everton who broke the stalemate after 78 minutes with their first corner of the game. Manuel Fernandes took it and the ball was helped on by Carsley and Anichebe to Lescott, who headed in.

Birmingham responded within five minutes, Zarate’s free kick curving past Howard’s flailing right hand. Next on their agenda are Aston Villa, 6-0 victors over poor Derby yesterday. “They are in scintillating form,” McLeish said. “On paper, Villa should win, but it’s a situation in which people can become heroes.” Zarate already is.

Star man: James McFadden (Birmingham)

Player ratings: Birmingham: Taylor 6, Kelly 6, Jaidi 7, Nafti 6, Ridgewell 7, Murphy 6, Larsson 6 (Jerome 24min, 6), Muamba 6, McSheffrey 6, Forssell 5 (O’Connor h-t, 5), McFadden 8 (Zarate 76min)
Everton: Howard 7, Hibbert 6, Jagielka 6, Lescott 7, Baines 6, Neville 6, Fernandes 6, Carsley 6, Pienaar 6 (Anichebe 64min), Johnson 6, Yakubu 5 (Gravesen 89min)

Yellow cards: Birmingham: Nafti
Everton: Carsley

Referee: S Bennett

Attendance: 25,923