Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish was thrilled with Christian Benitez's performance in their Carling Cup win over Southampton.

"I think he's done himself the world of good with that performance," said McLeish.

"He could have had a couple of goals. He crashed one off the post in the first-half and his reverse pass for Bowyer was brilliant.

"We've trained him for a month now, we've given him a pre-season if you like.

"We've introduced him gradually because of his late arrival and injury and it looked as if the wee fella's got something in his locker, no doubt about it.

"He's elusive. His passing as well, he's not too bad. Whether he can take balls in when he's got close attention from centre-halves, that's something we've yet to discover.

"But certainly when he gets away from them and opens up the play, he's very effective.

"I think he's a one fans will take to. The only thing is getting the ball to feet with the big centre-halves coming in at him from behind. That's something he has got to develop in his game. But he's still young."