McLeish relieved to avoid cup shock

Alex McLeish admitted he thought Birmingham were on their way out of the Carling Cup before they finally overcame Brentford on penalties. The League One Bees looked set to follow up the scalp of Everton in the previous round with another giant-killing when Sam Wood broke the deadlock mid-way through the second half.But veteran striker Kevin Phillips levelled in the 92nd minute 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."That made it look like we wouldn't score but Kevin did what he does best, we're in the hat and that's what counts."We're in the quarter-finals and it's all part of the development of the club."Brentford boss Andy Scott was proud of the performance of his players in coming so close to another major scalp.He said: "I think we have won a lot of friends. I'm very proud of my players."They are exhausted now. I don't think anybody can say that we didn't deserve to win in the 90 minutes."We gave them some real problems but we can be proud."Scott does not believe Brentford have received the credit they deserve for their achievements in recent years.He said: "I think Brentford as a club hasn't had the recognition it deserved over the last few years."We have a strong club, I am a young manager, we have players we have brought out of non-league."We've proved we have a strong club with a good fan base, good enough to bring 3,000 supporters here tonight."We didn't get anybody in the team of the year when we won League Two by six points and I didn't get manager of the year."That doesn't matter. What matters is we have a good club."

Source: Team_Talk