Source: Team_Talk
McLeish proud of his Blues stars
After edging their Championship fixture against Bristol City in midweek, Keith Fahey crashed home the only goal of the game on the stroke of half-time just as it looked as though Saints might head in to the interval on level terms at St Andrew's.
After completing the double over relegation-threatened Southampton, McLeish - who has used 29 players this season - said: "The last four days have been excellent with the players responding to the challenge.
"I am proud of them and the back five were rock solid.
"My job is to give the players confidence and boost their morale. We would all love to be better off than we are at the present time.
"We have wasted some good opportunities but we are still in a strong challenging position.
"No-one should forget we have lost key players for long parts of the season and we have been particularly hard done by."
McLeish expressed his concern with losing striker Marcus Bent to a first-half injury.
He said: "It is a shame to lose him because he has been playing to his strength."
Birmingham finally broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute when Cameron Jerome cut in and rolled his pass into the direction of Lee Bowyer who allowed the ball to run across to Fahey.
The young Irishman coolly took aim and fired home a low shot past Kelvin Davis for his second goal since his recent arrival from Dublin club St Patrick's.
Substitutes Carlos Costly and Hameur Bouazza both hit the woodwork in the second half for Birmingham but in the end Fahey's goal was sufficient to give the Blues their crucial win.
Southampton boss Mark Wotte, who had to deal with the arrest of two of his young players, Bradley Wright-Phillips and David McGoldrick, after they had been accused of assault and affray on Friday, claimed it was not an issue.
He said: "It didn't influence the result of the game but David was a little tired and didn't have a good game.
"What concerned me was conceding a goal just before half-time. We cannot concede a goal like that after they had played for 10 minutes with only 10 men when Lee Carsley was off the field.
"Birmingham are a strong side but not strong enough up front to score a goal. Now I have to lift the side for the next two home games against QPR and Derby."
