Monday Apr 21 2008 07:41
Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish admitted his side deserved nothing from Sunday's one-sided derby clash at Aston Villa.
The Blues remain in the bottom three after slumping to an embarrassing 5-1 defeat against their local rivals, and McLeish now has only three games to keep the club in the Premier League.
He said: "I'm sure the players feel as bad as myself and the fans, because the dressing room is silent. But we knew it would come down to the last three games whether we lost by one or five goals.
"We thought we could get something from Villa Park by being organised and tight, but they played fantastically, and their front men caused havoc.
"We can look at every goal and point a finger at someone but you have to give credit to Villa. John Carew was unplayable and, let's be honest, Villa have a different agenda to us, and they're a better side than us.
"We've now got to see if there will be a reaction next week. What's been evident from this side is that we've bounced back from defeat.
"We can do it again, because the proof is already there.
"We need the fans to stay with us in the next three games, starting next week against Liverpool at St Andrew's, where we've done very well."
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