Source: PA
McLeish lauds Blues' spirit
Birmingham manager Alex McLeish praised the spirit of his players after they came from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Sunderland in their Barclays Premier League opener.
The Black Cats were two up inside an hour thanks to Darren Bent's penalty and an own goal from Stephen Carr but Blues defenders Scott Dann and Liam Ridgewell netted in the final 12 minutes to earn the visitors a point.
Sunderland found themselves down to 10 men two minutes before half-time when new captain Lee Cattermole was shown a second yellow card.
McLeish was delighted with the way his side fought back but warned they must improve on what was a below-par display.
The former Rangers boss said: "There's 37 games to go and I would hate to go through every game watching that. It was a tough game for us. We didn't pass it the way we can.
"I felt we were lacking a little bit of sharpness in one or two areas. We caved in, and it was self-inflicted, although it wasn't a penalty because it was outside the box. But we showed in the end the fantastic resilience and spirit that the players have got. When you've got set-piece accuracy from somebody like (Sebastian) Larsson, it just needs somebody to be on the end of it."
