ALEX McLeish has urged Blues to rekindle their backs-to-the-wall mentality in tonight’s game at Everton (8pm).
Blues travel to Goodison Park in the Premier League relegation zone depleted through injuries and suffering from tired legs and tired minds in the wake of their Carling Cup heroics.
McLeish admitted there was a fear of burn-out in regard to his players.
But he pointed to similar scenarios when they responded in defiant manner in the past few weeks.
They won at Blackpool in January – their first away victory for ten months – to clamber out of the drop zone after falling into the mire.
And at West Ham United in February, with the teams level on points, Blues forced a priceless win to relieve pressure and stop the Hammers leapfrogging them to relative safety.
“That’s what we’ve been talking about, results like that,” said McLeish. “There was a period too when we had Man City away and Chelsea and took four points and people were expecting us to get nothing.
“Then after the Carling Cup semi-final, and the exertions of that, we took seven points from Man City, at home, West Ham and Stoke.
“You definitely worry about burn-out because of the amount of games they’ve played and also people like Barry Ferguson who’s hardly missed a game.
“He’s kind of unique in the squad I don’t really have another player like him. His use of the ball and his ability with the ball.
“Other players have their strengths, but Barry is kind of a one-off with the type of controller he is in a game with us.
“But we’re not feeling sorry for ourselves.
“We’ve got to get on with it. We have got to go to Everton and be positive and look to take something, and that’s the challenge to us now between the end of the season: picking up points where people are looking at it and saying we’ve probably got one of the hardest run-ins and are not expecting us to get anything.
“We have got to grind out points and results.”
Ferguson has elected to have an injection to try and speed up his recovery from a fractured rib, which rules him out tonight.
Craig Gardner (thigh) remains sidelined but McLeish said he hoped Martin Jiranek (thigh) would return and Liam Ridgewell (groin) be in better shape.
