McLeish – Gardner was silly

Gardner: Midfielder’s dismissal disappointed McLeish during Birmingham’s 1-1 draw with Wolves

Alex McLeish was ‘annoyed’ by the way Craig Gardner picked up his first yellow card after the midfielder was sent off in Birmingham City’s 1-1 draw with Wolves.

Birmingham edged a point closer to securing their Premier League status after Sebastian Larsson’s 27th minute goal cancelled out Steven Fletcher’s early penalty for the visitors.

However, two minutes after equalising at St Andrews, Blues were reduced to 10 men when Gardner received his second booking for diving.

Referee Kevin Friend appeared to get the decision spot on, but McLeish was more upset with Gardner for collecting his first caution following a spat with Wolves midfielder Jamie O’Hara.

Disappointing

“Craig was silly,” McLeish told Sky Sports.

“I told the players not to react to fouls and we had to be mature about this and let the referee deal with it.”
Alex McLeish Quotes of the week

“The one for me that really annoyed me is he put his hands up after O’Hara clattered into him, so that was disappointing.

“I told the players not to react to fouls and we had to be mature about this and let the referee deal with it.

“As soon as you start that stuff, you get a yellow card and put yourself under big pressure.”

McLeish sacrificed Kevin Phillips for Jean Beausejour when Gardner was dismissed and the Birmingham boss was pleased with his team’s response.

He added: “I’ve got to applaud a fantastic result. There was some grit and, at times, we did quite well with 10 men.

“We had to pick our moments as it was not easy to get forward with numbers, but when we picked our moments we looked really dangerous.”