West Ham 1-1 Birmingham

Feb 10 2008 Jamie Hewitt Reports

JAMES McFADDEN scored his first goal for Birmingham following his £4.75million move from Everton.

And Blues boss Alex McLeish reckons it could help kick-start his St Andrews career.

He said: "It's great for James.

He looked lively and troubled the West Ham defenders in the first half.

"He's not an out-and-out goalscorer, and hopefully he will provide many as well with his creativity. But he will score the occasional goal and is so dangerous."

Birmingham moved out of the bottom three after snatching a point against 10-man Hammers.

Freddie Ljungberg gave the Londoners an early lead when he netted from close range.

However, the Blues were level on 16 minutes when McFadden converted from the penalty spot after he had been fouled by West Ham skipper Lucas Neill.

McLeish was happy to grab a hard-earned point but knows plenty of hard work still needs to be done to avoid the drop.

He added: "We had a lot of the ball in the final third, particularly in the first half, but didn't make as much of the chances as I would have liked."

Hammers midfielder Lee Bowyer was sent off late on for a two-footed challenge on Damien Johnson. But West Ham boss Alan Curbishley hopes ref Mark Clattenburg will take another look at the red card.

He said: "We have asked Mark to look at it and hopefully he will overturn it.

"When it happened I didn't think it was that serious. But the referee sees it differently.

"The second half fizzled out and neither team looked likely to score."