'Resilient' Birmingham on the rise

Published on Wednesday 9 March 2011 10:34

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish praised his team's resilience in securing a point at Everton which moved them out of the Barclays Premier League relegation zone.

Blues took a 17th-minute lead at Goodison Park through Jean Beausejour's header but John Heitinga rifled in an equaliser 10 minutes before the interval and the Toffees looked by far the more likely side to find a winner in the second half.

McLeish's men held on for the 1-1 draw, though, taking them up to 17th in the table, with West Ham dropping into the bottom three. "I think that is an apt way to describe it - a battling point," McLeish said.

"We started very brightly and got the opening goal. Then the players showed that tremendous resilience that they have."

Everton - who saw Mikel Arteta taken off with a hamsstring injury - dominated possession for most of the contest but manager David Moyes felt his team did not show enough to deserve all three points.

He said: "It was a bit frustrating. We didn't play well enough probably to win the game, but we had a few half chances."