20110309

McLeish: Happy with point
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Birmingham boss Alex McLeish expects the fight for survival to go to the wire after they climbed out of the bottom three with a draw at Everton.
The Carling Cup winners moved out of the drop zone with a hard-fought point at Goodison Park to send West Ham into the bottom three.
Jean Beausejour gave Birmingham an early lead, but John Heitinga’s superb effort just before the break drew Everton level.
Birmingham had to withstand an Everton onslaught in the second half and McLeish was delighted with his side’s defending as they bounced back from last weekend’s home defeat to fellow strugglers West Brom
“We wanted to be more compact and tighter than the weekend and in a way the game at the weekend was the wrong type of fixture for us after the Cup final.
Back to basics
“We had to get back to basics and we defended really well, but we didn’t really penetrate after a really bright start.
“I have to play compliment to the battling qualities of my players and we will need that right until the end of the season.”
On the battle to stay up, McLeish expects there to be plenty of twists and turns before the end of the campaign.
“It’s going to be tough and it’s going to go right to the wire,” added McLeish.
“We have a lot of tough away games, but if we show that spirit and character and on our day we can win any game as we proved against Arsenal.”
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Wednesday action
Pictures from Wednesday’s action where Spurs hold Milan and Everton draw against Birmingham.
Lessons learnt
Peter Fraser picks through the wreckage of Arsenal’s Champions League defeat to Barcelona.
Quotes of the week
Stephen Ireland stole this week’s QOTW, while Blatter, Fergie and Harry all stopped in for a chat.
Spurs scrape into last eight
Tottenham were able to stand firm against AC Milan on Wednesday and grind out a 0-0 draw which keeps their European dream alive.
Dawson beaming after battle
Michael Dawson has hailed Tottenham’s progress to the last-eight of the Champions League as ‘unbelievable’.
Crouch – Progress deserved
Peter Crouch feels Tottenham are full value for their place in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

Excerpt from:
McLeish ready for survival battle
