Source: Team_Talk
McLeish: I knew Bowyer still had it
Bowyer had scored the only goal in last week's victory over Fulham and he repeated the performance after only two minutes here as City extended their unbeaten run to five games and climbed to 11th spot in the Barclays Premier League.[LNB]The 32-year-old Bowyer was signed on loan from West Ham last January before making the move permanent in the summer and he is Birmingham's leading scorer with five goals.[LNB]McLeish said: "When Lee came here other people had doubts about him. But I had no such doubts.[LNB]"I did some research and tried to ensure we were bringing someone in who's the right type and has still got the legs for Premier League football.[LNB]"When a player gets older, you fear the legs may go but Lee has shown that it's not the case with him.[LNB]"He is confounding his critics, helping us to promotion last season and his return of five goals is fantastic, like Bowyer of old.[LNB]"He's a mature player and along with Barry Ferguson patrolled and controlled the midfield superbly, especially in the first half."[LNB]McLeish was celebrating the second anniversary of him taking charge at Birmingham and his side have taken 11 points from the last 15.[LNB]He said: "I thought it was a terrific performance all round. We were awesome from start to finish.[LNB]"We worked hard, passed the ball well, showed great composure and stout defending - all the ingredients you want from your team."[LNB]In contrast, Wolves remain four points adrift of safety after extending their sequence without a victory to eight matches.[LNB]Wolves boss Mick McCarthy said: "I was not expecting us to play as poorly as we did in the first half.[LNB]"It was a hugely disappointing experience and we did not compete like we normally do.[LNB]"You expect to be beaten by Chelsea and Arsenal, as we have been in the last two games, but we expected to beat Birmingham.[LNB]"They deserved it, they were better than us on the day but we were 1-0 down before we had made a tackle and then it is always difficult.[LNB]"I can't blame the (4-0) defeat against Chelsea for what happened today. We were at home to Birmingham and didn't get the performance we wanted."[LNB]Bowyer settled matters with a clever chip from the edge of the Wolves box after good play by Christian Benitez.[LNB][LNB]
