Alex McLeish says that Birmingham's narrow 1-0 win over fellow strugglers West Ham is a huge confidence boost to the club. Nikola Zigic's 65thminute headed goal saw Blues move up to 16th place in and they still have games in hand on the sides around them.
"Psychologically it was a huge win after the players watched the results come in yesterday afternoon," the Blues boss told the club's official website.
"In the first half maybe we gave the Hammers a little bit too much respect.
"We never really passed the ball well enough and trying to string three passes together was almost impossible to find in the first half and we had to do some resilient defending.
"Johnson headed one out from underneath the crossbar and (Robbie) Keane charged down a Jiranek clearance, so these were nervy moments.
"We never really gave (Robert) Green too many problems with the front two but changing to five in midfield helped us in the second half.
Zigic's goal just after the hour mark was his fifth of the season and McLeish feels the Serb is now becoming accustomed to the Premier League.
"Zigic has upped his game and come to a good level," said McLeish.
"Getting used to the English aggression has been a challenge for him but he's now beginning to hold his own.
"At the back post for the goal he was pushed in the back but he still managed to stay firm and get his head on it and it was vicious delivery by Seb Larsson that put it right on his forehead.
"The win means that hopefully the confidence of the whole team will gather pace.
"It would be good to get another victory or two in the next two or three games coming up and it would certainly take us up the table, but we know it will be a big challenge."
