Birmingham City Football Club News

• Nickname:Blues
• Founded:1875
• Manager:Chris Hughton

• Ground:St Andrew's
• Capacity:30,016

Boss salutes beaten Blues

13 Mar 2008 - 07:58:20

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Manager Alex McLeish saluted Birmingham City's spirit despite the Blues going down 4-2 at Portsmouth on Wednesday night.

Birmingham's first defeat in five games left them hovering just one point and one place above the relegation zone, but McLeish saw plenty of positives in their performance at Fratton Park.

"I'm delighted though by the spirit we showed. We had a right go in the second half but got caught short at the back for the fourth goal chasing the game," he claimed.

"To go two goals down so early on at Portsmouth, a lot of teams might have capitulated and been on the end of a drubbing.

"So we deserve credit for fighting back."

McLeish also revealed that £5million striker James McFadden started on the bench after spending the previous night in hospital with his wife who gave birth to a daughter.

Meanwhile, the Blues boss has admitted next Monday's clash with Newcastle United will now be a huge relegation showdown.

He added: "That's going to be a big game, nothing less now than it was ever going to be.

"It would be a big boost to win it and we've got a lot of plusses coming out of this game."