Birmingham boss Alex McLeish was left frustrated with the manner of Fulham's equaliser at Craven Cottage.
Blues boss frustrated with corner call as visitors drop points
Birmingham boss Alex McLeish was left frustrated with the manner of Fulham's equaliser at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
The Blues led from Sebastian Larsson's first-half opener but Clint Dempsey nodded the hosts level shortly after the break as the sides drew 1-1.
However, Dempsey's equaliser came via a corner McLeish feels never should have been awarded and pointed the finger at referee Howard Webb's assistant.
"Again, we started slowly in the second half and they undone us," McLeish told
Sky Sports.
"But in saying that, I think the pictures will tell us that it shouldn't have been a corner. How the assistant can give that from the far side, with Ben Foster covering his line of vision, is unbelievable.
"And goals change games and it gave Fulham a big bit of a lift and the fans then got behind them."
On-loan midfielder Alex Hleb created Birmingham's goal with a fantastic counter-attacking run, but McLeish was forced to withdraw the former Arsenal player shortly after the restart.
"He was stretching just before the start of the second half and he felt his hamstring go a little bit, but we'll see how he is come tomorrow, he'll be in for treatment and come Monday morning we'll have a better diagnosis.
Pace
"He showed the blistering pace, that change of pace that we haven't seen. We've been working hard on the training ground to get Hleb working at his top level that we've seen him do at Arsenal.
"It was a brilliant goal, it was fantastic play by Hleb. I thought he was gearing up to curl into the top corner.
"But he's found Seb [Larsson], who made a brilliant run, and he's then finished it well because it's not easy to finish from a sweeping move like that.
"But you just hope the supporting player can do it justice, and Larsson did just that."
It was Larsson's first goal of 2010 but the Swedish midfielder is stalling on a new contract, with his current deal set to expire next summer, and he would be free to speak to other clubs in January.
McLeish has not given up the fight just yet and is eager to tie the 25-year-old down to new terms.
He said: "It's out of your hands almost at times, you can never tell but if Seb puts his name on the dotted line then great, we don't want to lose him."
