With five games of their second Championship campaign to go, the difficulty of Burton Albion's survival challenge could not be clearer.

Nigel Clough's side sit bottom of the table, seven points adrift of safety and with a goal difference, inferior to all the teams down there with them, which makes that gap just that bit larger.

They need a minimum of three victories in their final five matches to 'make their rivals have to play', as Nigel Clough has put it.

Realistically, they are going to need to take four wins from Hull City, Derby County, Sunderland, Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End to have a chance of playing at this level again in 2018-19.

Lukas Jutkiewicz of Birmingham City equalises against Burton Albion
Lukas Jutkiewicz of Birmingham City equalises against Burton Albion

Those are the numbers Albion have to contend with it. It is still possible, of course, and what has been evident on the pitch over recent weeks is just how much they believe they can pull of the unlikely escape.

But Clough's players now have another challenge to wrestle with, too, as the Championship clock ticks down.

How will they bounce back from the blow of seeing four points slip through their fingers in the last five minutes of two consecutive games?

After the suckerpunch of Britt Assombalonga's 90th-minute equaliser for Middlesbrough at the Pirelli Stadium on Easter Monday, Burton again found themselves with a crucial victory in sight against relegation-threatened Birmingham City.

The Blues will have wondered how that situation came to be, so dominant had they been for long spells, with chance after chance spurned, blocked or fired against the brilliant Stephen Bywater.

Albion rode their luck and worked tirelessly to keep Birmingham at bay, doing so for 86 tiring minutes.

In the 87th, though, Lukas Jutkiewicz produced a fine header that scraped the underside of the crossbar and nestled in the net, simultaneously handing the Blues a massive point in their survival bid and landing a telling blow on Burton's own hopes.

As painful as that outcome was for a Brewers team that looked out on their feet as Jutkiewicz wheeled away in celebration, Clough commented afterwards that his side's performance would not have warranted the victory - even if there have been times this season when their better displays have deserved much more than they yielded.

With Lloyd Dyer and Darren Bent both recovered from injury and illness respectively after the Boro draw, Clough named an unchanged XI at St Andrew's.

Lloyd Dyer of Burton Albion opens the scoring against Birmingham City
Lloyd Dyer of Burton Albion opens the scoring against Birmingham City

But the rip-roaring start from five days previous was totally at odds with how things began against Garry Monk's Blues, as the Brewers somehow hung on at 0-0 during a turbulent first half.

Jeremie Boga had the ball in the Burton net after only six minutes when he latched onto a loose ball that ran away from Jota, supposedly fouled by Kyle McFadzean and with referee Darren Bond playing advantage.

Boga was flagged offside, though, a decision that Monk labelled "quite baffling" after the game. Clough, meanwhile, felt McFadzean had been fouled in the build-up and that that is where the move should have ended.

Sparked into life by that supposed injustice, Birmingham set about peppering Bywater's goal.

The Albion keeper denied Boga from the subsequent free-kick and then produced fine, close-range stops to thwart Jutkiewicz and Jota in quick succession.

Perhaps the hosts' best chance came when Jota, stood in an offside position, was played in behind Bywater when the ball cannoned off Dyer and into his path.

McFadzean was on hand to produce a stunning block when a goal looked certain.

Burton did little to help ease the pressure on them before the break. Countless passes were misplaced, possession was too easily submitted, and forward duo Bent and Liam Boyce struggled to get involved.

Birmingham City players argue with the referee after having an early goal disallowed

The one Brewer who did look an attacking threat was the one who so often thrives in this fixture.

Lloyd Dyer had scored in each of Albion's three previous Championship wins over the Blues - and it felt strangely inevitable that he would make that four from four, despite Burton's struggle to get a foothold.

That would come three minutes after the break, by which point Damien McCrory had been forced off with a hamstring injury and John Brayford looked set to follow him off the pitch after going down injured before half-time.

But the Brewers skipper re-emerged for the second half, and so did the Brewers, with a renewed intensity.

That was rewarded with Dyer's 48th-minute opener. Marvin Sordell won possession upfield and laid it across for Hope Akpan, who charged ahead and then passed it on for Dyer to hit a sweet, first-time effort from the left that deflected past the diving David Stockdale.

Lloyd Dyer of Burton Albion celebrates opening the scoring against Burton Albion
Lloyd Dyer of Burton Albion celebrates opening the scoring against Burton Albion

So began the visitors' best spell, with Birmingham suddenly open at the back, allowing Sordell into a position to test Stockdale and Dyer to again cause havoc down the left. How he loves playing Birmingham.

Albion could not build on their lead, though, and the Blues showed the confidence of a side with three successive wins under their belt by quickly seizing control again.

Clough switched the Brewers from a 4-4-2 into a 5-4-1 shape for the final half-hour. Bent, who also looked to be struggling with an injury, came off for Ben Turner, meaning Boyce became more isolated up top as play remained in the Burton half.

Jota hit a post, David Davis curled an effort onto the crossbar and then Bywater produced an important double save from close-range, before Jutkiewicz hooked the rebound over the bar.

Those misses were coupled with a brave, committed defensive display from the visitors. Tom Naylor epitomised that with some fantastic covering work under severe pressure, and there were some important blocks as Birmingham began to take aim from range.

Stephen Bywater gets down to deny Lukas Jutkiewicz

It was such tight, nervy moments that Burton seemed to master towards the end of last season, holding on for those vital results that ultimately kept them up.

But in a campaign where Burton have too often seen the turning points go against them, the past week has provided two of the most costly.

With time ticking away, Boga curled one more ball into the Albion box. This time, there was no Brewer on hand to get in the way, nor could any of those stationed in the box get up to head it clear.

Instead, Jutkiewicz rose well to direct a stunning header back across goal and just under Bywater's crossbar.

Collectively, the shoulders of the Albion players dropped. So much given in search of a much-needed triumph, and the reward of a point feels scant consolation.

Lukas Jutkiewicz (10) races away to celebrate his late equaliser against Burton Albion

A couple of late surges forward went unfinished for Burton, a dangerous-looking cross from Sordell just evading Dyer at the back post in the final meaningful moment of a breathless game.

If the Brewers are unable to upset all the odds and complete a remarkable push to survival from this position, there will be countless flashpoints to reflect upon as moments that led to relegation.

But the late drama of the past seven days will be seen as pivotal, as painful as any of them. The challenge now is for Albion to pick themselves up and go again against Hull City on Tuesday.