Huddersfield Town 2-1 Birmingham City

Jan 6 2008 James Cairns Reports

BIRMINGHAM boss Alex McLeish, who knows a bit about giant-killing acts after his stint as Scotland coach, became a victim himself yesterday. It was a grim introduction to the FA Cup for the former Rangers manager who has called for his Premiership players to take a firm look at their personal contributions after defeat by the League One side.

Birmingham went down despite fighting back after losing a third-minute goal to Luke Beckett who reacted first in a goalmouth scramble.

The St Andrews side equalised through Scotland international Garry O'Connor in 20 minutes who poked home from close range but a late volley by Chris Brandon sealed it for the hosts.

Big Eck said: "The league is our priority and remains so but we wanted to win this match, no question.

"I've been involved in cup upsets as a player and a manager. I've been a giant killer but I've seen the other side and I didn't want to be a victim.

"The players will be embarrassed by it because they'll get bad headlines and so will I. That is the position we are in."

Reflecting on what had been said to his off-colour side behind closed doors, McLeish added: "The dressing-room chat remains private.

"But every one of our players can look in the mirror and say, 'We've let ourselves down and let the fans down'.

"We had three or four internationals out there and should be better than that."

Huddersfield boss Andy Ritchie hailed his side's thrilling victory but insisted celebrations would last just a day. He said: "We rode our luck on one or two occasions but we had the chances.

"It's fantastic for the town, the fans and not least the players.

"But it's back down to earth on Monday."

Ritchie's side lie 14th in League One after consecutive defeats by Nottingham forest and Northampton.

But he added: "I think this result challenges us to reproduce that form in the league, that's what I'll be saying to the lads.

"Birmingham are a really good side but have a big challenge in their own division and we now need to start climbing up our league."

Ritchie was also happy to spread the praise evenly across his side despite Beckett and Brandon getting the plaudits for the goals. He said: "We've had so many great performances out there that I really couldn't single out any one player out.

"For our winning goal there was great movement. Danny Schofield put in a great ball, Luke was running the channel and pulled in a great ball and we've been telling Chris to get to the back stick all season. He finally did and it worked.

"But I can't single anyone out because they were all fantastic."