ALEX McLeish has praised Martin Jiranek for his patience and leadership.

The Czech defender was given his big chance in the Carling Cup semi-final when McLeish opted to put Liam Ridgewell to left-back again from centre-half.

“David Murphy has been out such a long time and the doctor did warn me that we had to be careful with him too,” said McLeish.

“He’s played some really high intensity games over a very short period and I felt that in the Man United game we didn’t really work hard enough as a team in terms of the shape.

“David had a tough time against Nani but Nani, if he gets one on one against anybody, can do that. I just felt it was time to give David a rest and I hadn’t seen Martin.

“To bring him in in such a high-powered, high-pressure game was a calculated gamble.

“The guy has got massive European experience and I figured that if we were playing a European team at St Andrew’s he would probably come and smoke the cigar and be very comfortable.

“We spoke about, and worked on, the aerial side of things over a few days and Martin adapted supremely well.

“He has been patient and I thought he showed great leadership when he got the chance and showed what he’s all about.”