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"We didn't pass the ball well enough for large parts of the first half and didn't show the incisive play and control that we did against Queens Park Rangers recently," McLeish said.
"That was disappointing, but other than the goal I don't remember Maik Taylor having too much to do in the first half so it is pleasing that when we were put to the test we defended well.
"At half time I reminded the players of how well we played against QPR and we discussed how we were still in the game. The response was the kind you would want, the substitutions worked for us, and we are please to have come away from a result from another extremely tough Championship encounter.
"We started to work our way back into the game and our goal was an excellent one, a classic breakaway goal full of quality. It was the best move of the match by far, but it was frustrating that we didn't produce more of the same throughout the course of the game."
Owen Coyle, as surely most observers did, thought we had done more than enough to have won the game after arguably our best performance of the season. "There's no doubt we are disappointed not to win that game. I though everyone of my players were magnificent from start to finish," he said.
"I thought the passing and pace we played at was really pleasing to the eye and we have been caught with a sucker punch. I would think Alex McLeish will be pleased with the point, but if you are going to switch off from your own corner, as we did, you pay a heavy price."
Coyle continued: "I thought some of the performances, individually and collectively, were of the standard we are looking for and if we give that level on a weekly basis, then we will win an awful lot of games.
"There were so many positives to take from it, and equally we can learn the lesson that when the game is 1-0 you can never switch off. Even then we have had a little bit of bad luck because Brian has pulled off a great save for their goal and on another day the ball would have gone wide.
"After that it would have been easy for the lads to feel sorry for themselves, but nothing could be further from the truth."
There were big claims for a penalty for handball close to the end of the game and Coyle explained: "I thought it was a penalty. Wade got behind and the lad was six yards away from him.
"Sometimes you don't get them given and to be fair, the referee said he wasn't best places and the linesman said someone ran into his line of vision, so I can accept that and unfortunately that little bit of luck hasn't gone with us."