McLeish: We ran out of steam April 26 2008
Birmingham manager Alex McLeish admitted his side ran out of steam after Liverpool recovered from a two goal deficit to force a 2-2 draw and deal a massive blow to their hopes of Premier League survival.
But the former Scotland boss is determined to remain upbeat ahead of next Saturday's crunch game at Fulham despite remaining in the bottom three.
Goals from Mikael Forssell and Sebastian Larsson put City in control but a Peter Crouch shot reduced the arrears before a deflected header from Yossi Benayoun rescued a point for the Merseysiders.
McLeish said: "I was very disappointed. Before the game we would have taken a draw with Liverpool. But having gone ahead 2-0, you think it is sewn up.
"The first goal they score was down to very naive players with Jermaine Pennant running at our defenders. They dived in a bit, went to ground a few times.
"But for that it could have been a fantastic result - but we still got a point and that point could keep us in the league.
"They were very fresh and you could see that in the second half. Our players were running on empty. Olivier Kapo has been struggling with flu for the past three days but I thought it was very important to include him with his quality and his presence.
"He ran out of steam - and unfortunately he ran out of steam right at the point where the equalised but Liverpool's players were much fresher than us in the second half.
"That factor told in the sense that team hasn't played as much as we have."
McLeish added: "The players have got to pick themselves up. They are more angry than anything. They are not demoralised because they know it was a good reaction after a bad day at the office against Aston Villa last week.
"That is what I asked for - and I got that today.
"But we are paying for individual mistakes. We have got a good goal difference but lose goals through individual errors and that has cost us this season.
"There is a lot of inexperience in that team out there and they will learn from some of the mistakes they have made this season.
"There is no magic wand. I don't think we need to get paranoid about today. We have got to go along the same lines next week.
"We are due to have an away victory and we can go to Fulham and win."
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez was happy with his side's recovery which effectively sealed fourth place.
He said: "I was happy with the second half, really pleased, the team was much better, and to score two goals and have chances to the end was very positive.
"Today we needed to change all the players from the Chelsea game and try to keep the high tempo during the games. With this team, we were creating a lot of chances too so it is pleasing.
"The idea was to win and guarantee fourth place. A draw was also an option and hopefully we can progress in the Champions League now and be able to be really focused on the final if we get there.
"We started the game, controlling almost everything for 30 minutes, and then we conceded a goal. At half-time were talking about how to improve things and the mentality of the players was a massive positive.
"You must guarantee being in the Champions League. At least we are assured of that now and now we can think of the Champions League itself."