Blues rout a blip for McLeish

Birmingham manager Alex McLeish has backed his side to hit back from their thumping at Manchester City and claimed the 5-1 defeat was merely a blip.

Blues were routed by their rampant hosts at Eastlands yesterday - their biggest Premier League defeat of the season - as Roberto Mancini's hosts tightened their grip on the final Champions League place.

A triple five-minute first-half blast from Carlos Tevez's double and Emmanuel Adebayor ended Blues' hopes, despite Cameron Jerome pulling a goal back.

McLeish has tipped his men to recover against Hull on Saturday.

He said: "We have the capacity to bounce back. We have shown it in the past many times.

"I will call it a blip and challenge the players to win the next game against Hull. It was a strange game, but when top clubs click they can do that to you.

"We defended badly in some situations, especially the goals in the second half."

But McLeish reckons his men were comfortable before Tevez's 38th minute penalty sparked the goal rush.

He said: "It was solid enough up until 40 minutes. The penalty was a bit soft but we can see why the referee gave it.

"The second goal was a bit disappointing because we are normally good at set pieces. We had to chase the game after that.

"After 38 minutes, at 0-0, it was cruise control, almost. Get to half-time, I thought, and it would have been a very interesting second-half. Their fans were getting a bit agitated.

"But the second goal definitely gave them breathing space and to concede a third after we got back in it was, in my mind, not like us."