McLeish hails Ferguson contribution

Barry Ferguson
12 April 2012

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish has hailed the contribution made by FA Cup goal hero Barry Ferguson after admitting he has asked the midfielder to "modify his game" since moving to St Andrew's last summer.

Ferguson was a free-scoring attacking type of player during his days under McLeish at Rangers and he has effectively adopted more of a holding role at Birmingham. He turned back the clock with his surging run and clinical finish to earn Blues a 1-0 home win over Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup third-round replay to secure an away tie with Everton.

McLeish said: "Barry has modified his game a bit. At Rangers he scored goals galore from midfield. In the treble-winning season, he got 18-20 goals which was amazing for a midfielder. He was very instrumental in us getting the victory with his performance, apart from his goal. He has made a big contribution since he came here."

He added: "He made a lot of forward runs and, in that Rangers team, we had fantastic players who could play you into good positions and Barry is a good timer of runs.

"We've asked him to change a little bit since coming to Birmingham and Lee Bowyer has taken the lion's share of the goals.

"But that was vintage Barry against Forest and the run forward, and the finish for the goal was exemplary. It was a good finish and in the second half he was very commanding in the game for us."

McLeish was happy to come through a tricky tie with Blues far from their best despite fielding a full strength side and it needed keeper Joe Hart to make two fine saves before Ferguson struck in the 61st minute.

The former Scotland boss said: "Is it a relief? I wouldn't say it was relief. I was happy to get the victory. It was a tough game.

"We weren't at our best, but we still won it so it tells you a lot about the resilience of the players in that dressing room.

"But Forest played well and they can count themselves unlucky to be out of the cup."

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