Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish was delighted with his goal scorers Lee Bowyer and Lee Carsley in their Carling Cup victory over Southampton.
"It helps confidence and creates good habits, winning in the cup," said McLeish.
"The performance I'm not entirely pleased with but I didn't expect it to be smooth - we made a lot of changes and rotated the squad.
"But we soldiered on. When we went behind I thought we were going out of the cup. But I felt we had goals in us.
"If we'd gone two behind Southampton would have seen it through. But we got a lot stronger.
"It was a classic Bowyer goal, and Carsley has played a captain's role and got the winner."