McLeish - I thought we were going out

Relieved Birmingham manager Alex McLeish admitted he thought his side were on their way out of the Carling Cup before they finally overcame League One side Brentford on a penalty shoot-out at St Andrew's. Brentford looked set to follow up the scalp of Everton in the previous round with another giant-killing when Sam Wood broke the deadlock midway through the second half. But veteran striker Kevin Phillips levelled in the second minute of injury time and, after extra-time had failed to resolve the tie, City came out on top 4-3 on penalties. McLeish said: "Brentford were superb, well organised and battled. I thought we were out the cup. "But, when you have the hunger and desire to keep going right to the end, I have to salute the players. "We put together three or four passes together for the first time for the goal. We lacked creativity and imagination before that."

Source: PA