McLeish hails side's character

McLeish: Hailed side's spirit

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Birmingham boss Alex McLeish hailed his side's character after the Blues battled back from two goals down to claim a point against Everton.

Goals from Victor Anichebe and Yakubu Aiyegbeni put the Toffees well in command after 22 minutes at St Andrews but Cameron Jerome quickly pulled one back (26) to keep McLeish's side in the game.

Craig Gardner then scored his first goal for the club on 52 minutes to earn a share of the spoils and keep the eighth-placed Blues two points ahead of the Toffees in the race for European qualification.

McLeish told Sky Sports afterwards that he had watched the in-form Toffees demolish Hull City 5-1 last time and he knew David Moyes' side would travel to St Andrews full of confidence.

"I reminded the players before the game how well they've done and they should relax a little bit but not be complacent but I think they went into a kind of deep sleep for the first 20, 25 minutes of the game and Everton raced into the lead, carrying on where they left off from really last Sunday.

Character

"But we fought back brilliantly again and we showed the character that I think has been indicative of this team the whole season."

He added: "We got the goal (Jerome's) back and it rocked Everton a little bit, they'd dominated early proceedings, had chances, Joe Hart had a great save, that was the early warning sign which we didn't heed.

"We were just slack, we gave Everton too much respect but they are a quality side and for us to fight back and get a point against a team like Everton I'm so proud of the guys."

McLeish was also delighted for Gardner after he scored his first goal for the club since his £3 million switch from rivals Aston Villa.

The Blues boss added: "(I'm) very pleased because Craig was ill yesterday, he came in in the morning and there's a virus going around I think a lot of the clubs have been affected and we didn't think Craig would be available.

"We asked him to come in for a fitness test this morning just to see if he was feeling tired and do some runs but he called the doc and said he would be okay.

Chasing shadows

"I felt he struggled to get his second wind, the speed of the game, the pace of the game, the way Everton started, we were all chasing shadows at that time.

"Then he came into it when we got that goal back, everybody came back into it, our tempo went up a wee bit and he's hit the ball on the run and I hope that's a measure of what's to come from Gardner."

As regards European qualification, McLeish added as long as his team are in this position "you have got to believe anything is possible."

"Can we stay above them (Everton)? We will do our best, we'll try, we'll definitely try.

"You see that team and the effort they have made this season, they won't rest and they'll keep trying to get points but we have tough games coming up, quality games, games that we are relishing, games why we love being in the Premier League."

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