Players urged to grab opportunity of a lifetime

Apr 22 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail

‘‘They can make it a real hot cauldron for the opposition.”

Some Blues players had the option of taking an extra day off this week in the lead-up to the big match to ensure they were recharged and fresh.

“A lot of players have played a lot of football recently, as I explained about Cameron Jerome at the weekend,” said McLeish.

“You’re thinking ‘right, do one or two need more of a break this week’? That was offered, but there’s a few players who said no, they wanted to keep training.

“That shows you their mindset, I suppose.’’

Ever since that defeat of Bristol on March 4, Blues have had real look of purpose and menace about them and embarked on a nine-game unbeaten run, which has included six clean sheets.

McLeish added: “I know that the players’, the attitude they’ve got – we’ve talked about their steel all season – they really want it, they really want to get promotion.

“It’s not a God-given right, it’s not guaranteed, but there has been, and there is, a real focus about them.

“At times when we’ve stuttered, in the dressing room the imagination of the players themselves has come through.

‘‘Lee Carsley got them together and that, and introduced a couple of wee things, to help.”