Birmingham must finish job, says McLeish

Dec 27 2007 By Colin Tattum

BIRMINGHAM boss Alex McLeish predicted his team would go into Saturday's match against Fulham with a spring in their step. But he warned his players not to think they had cracked it following the comprehensive win over Middlesbrough.

He said: "The important thing is that we take the confidence and belief from the game into Saturday, and we're entitled to do that. We're hoping to pick up six points from the two holiday games and we're halfway to our objective.

"We've just got to be aware of complacency and not think it's a formality as Fulham will be looking to bounce back, like we were after Bolton Wanderers."

The managerless Cottagers were walloped 5-1 at Spurs yesterday and dropped into the relegation zone, four points adrift of 14th-placed Blues.

McLeish allowed Blues' players Christmas Day off and he remarked: "We got payback from them for it.

"We let them spend the day with their families and they were happy about that. They had worked hard the previous day in training and their professionalism has been of the high standard you would expect."

The manager was without midfielder Olivier Kapo and defender Rafael Schmitz yesterday because of slight injuries.

Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate had no complaints about the result.

"We were very slow out of the traps and we didn't deserve anything on the day."