ALEX McLeish doesn’t go in for the stock ‘must-win’ phrase.

If you don’t win, then what happens? That’s it, over – you give up completely?

He has a point. Every game, really, is must-win. The Carling Cup final, for example. Blues weren’t at Wembley just for a nice day out.

Anyway, maybe it’s wiser to tag certain matches far more important than others.

This was certainly one and perhaps it was as close to that ‘must-win’ as you could get.

Coming off the back of a break and a demoralising defeat at Wigan Athletic, Blues had to kickstart their season all over again, from a position in the relegation zone.

The result of this match was always going to be critical psychologically and act as a pointer to Blues’ capabilities and whether fragility since the Cup final was endemic or not.

They came through it, playing well at the start and in the end grinding it out, keeping their nerve and showing a big heart for the battle.

This game was all about setting the tone for the run-in.

Whenever Blues have found themselves in the drop zone, they have hauled themselves out at the next opportunity.

The task now is to build on the win – only the second in nine St Andrew’s games – and continue to play with fight, fire and no fear.

Whether it’s been fatigue, sloppy errors, complacency, lack of form, drive and guile or bad luck, Blues just haven’t been with it since Wembley.

Wigan was more than a gentle wake-up call and the mood shift at Wast Hills was apparent in the countdown to the game.

McLeish made some rousing public comments and pricked the conscience of his players.

Roger Johnson and Barry Ferguson, as senior leaders, picked up the baton and admitted under-achievement. The call also went out to supporters to ‘back the boys’.

Even former skipper Jeff Kenna said the time to revel in the ‘monumental’ Carling Cup achievement was long gone and Blues had to get down to business – and it was about results, not pretty football.

McLeish acted after Wigan, handing Kevin Phillips his first – and arguably overdue – Premier League start quite simply because he’s the most reliable and most likely player to score a goal, which he duly did.

It was bold to take Curtis Davies out of the firing line and move Liam Ridgewell inside to centre-half due to Martin Jiranek’s injury.