We send that win off to Brian and his family

Last updated : 09 April 2007 By Tony Scholes
It's not often I'm totally bemused by a manager's comments after a game. It did used to be a regular thing when the Weary Whinger was at Preston and other managers have had their moments. But I'm amazed at how Steve Bruce saw the game and wondered just where the Birmingham manager must have been looking for much of the game if he thought we'd have only one shot on target.

"There are some strange results at this stage of the season due to the nervousness and the edginess and we were a victim of that today. We didn't have any fluency but you have to credit Burnley for what they did. We made a mistake and they have scored with their one shot on goal. No matter what we did in terms of personnel we have come up against a barn door unfortunately.

"This is a setback but the sign of a good team is how we can get over that. Everyone will be looking at that one today and saying it's a home banker, but it doesn't always work like that in this division.

"We could have done with a result today as it would have been fantastic to go top of the league. It hasn't happened but we are still in with a very good chance and the promotion chase is still wide open. We fell short a little bit today, some of them were trying too hard and others were trying the impossible things, but we'll learn from that."

As it has been with the Clarets recently, Birmingham are struggling for goals and Bruce added: "You are hoping that at the top end of the pitch you do something that others can't, but today we struggled in that department, although I thought the service from the back to the front through our midfield wasn't there today and we'll have to improve on that.

"It is how we handle the situation and I just thought today, in front of a fantastic crowd, we didn't get anywhere near the standards that we set against Coventry a week ago. It was one of those awful days that you have to recover from if you are going to win leagues and get promoted, and I'm sure we'll bounce back against Barnsley on Monday."

Steve Cotterill was delighted with this second victory in four days on what was a difficult day for our club following the death of Brian Miller. "It's a very sad day, so it would be nice to dedicate that victory towards Brian and his family. When he was manager here, he got a pretty important result a few years ago, so today we send that win off to him and his family."

Looking at the game Steve added: "That was probably our best result of the season, simply because of where Birmingham are. We know what they are all about and they are probably destined for the Premiership, so we are absolutely delighted."

It was substitute John Spicer who scored the winner, his first goal of the season and the manager said: "I just got lucky with that one. We changed things around a little because John will do different things to Paul McVeigh. We thought he may get in behind and get a chance, so when he went through and took his chance it was very pleasing. It was a great finish."

It's three games, three clean sheets and seven points and looking back he added: "The players have probably been hurting in the past few months and hopefully now they will get a few pats on the back for the amount of effort and work they have put in to turn the season around.

"Those two wins mean the other teams at the bottom are three games away from us now with the games running out very quickly. With our goal difference being back to zero, which is very pleasing, that probably shows that the only trouble we have had was that run when we couldn't score. It is no coincidence, but Andy Gray has been absolutely phenomenal in two games for us. He has been the key, along with good team performances.

"We said when we got the win against Plymouth the other night that we wanted to push on and finish the season well. We have leapfrogged Leicester and there are a couple of clubs above us now who, with a game in hand, are reachable. We have to do the best to get maximum points again on Monday and then we can take stock of what has happened in a short space of time."