Monday Dec 03 2007 08:29
Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish praised his new side's character after the Blues eased their relegation concerns with a dramatic 3-2 victory at
Tottenham.
In his first game in charge since succeeding Steve Bruce at St Andrew's, McLeish watched his side clinch three points thanks to Sebastian Larsson's amazing late strike.
The former Scotland boss admitted: "It was a long 90 minutes. During the game it can be torture at times for any manager. The quality of Tottenham's midfield and forwards is absolutely fantastic and they had us pinned down at times.
"We rode our luck a little bit in the first 15 minutes and perhaps we were a little nervous. We took the lead against the run of play and then, after Spurs went 2-1 up, it would have been easy for our heads to go down.
"But we have asked them to retain their belief and work-rate until the very end of the game and that's what happened and they got their rewards for that.
"We finished the game strongly. I know that Spurs lost Robbie Keane and it gave us a wee bit more impetus, but it was a spectacular win all the same.
"There were a lot of plus points. We passed it well in the first half, maybe we over-passed it and got ourselves caught in dangerous areas so that's something that we'll look at.
"You have to credit the lads for their resilience and character. We need to make sure this work ethic continues.
"It should reinforce the belief in the players and they can take the confidence of this into training and I'm sure they will relish the trip to Newcastle next weekend."
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