The rapturous St Andrew's reception given to Alex McLeish and his new Birmingham management team was warmly appreciated, before the 1-1 draw with Reading.

The Blues boss said: "It was a great welcome from them for Roy Aitken, Andy Watson and myself.

"It's what I expected from the crowd at St Andrew's. We are all really pleased to be here and we hope we can take these terrific fans and the team up the table.

"I was just so disappointed that we didn't get the three points for them. They gave the players great backing also, they roared them on," he told the Birmingham Mail.