Jaidi lets Zarate kid Howard with tip from Bolton

When referee Steve Bennett blew for handball by Lee Carsley, Jaidi stood behind Everton's defensive wall, trying to interfere with keeper Tim Howard's line of vision by prancing about, waving his arms in the air.

Everton's keeper said: "I tried to draw the referee's attention to what he was doing.

"Personally, I don't think the referees and linesmen in the Premier League are going to have enough gumption to disallow a goal on the basis of that.

"They probably should do. He's in an offside position and he's interfering with my line of vision but it's for the referee to make that call and I would not bet on them doing that.

"I suppose it's ungentlemanly conduct in a way but he got away with it. It's like a guy who robs a bank — if you don't catch him then he keeps the money."

Such was the quality of Zarate's curling shot that it is debatable whether Howard would have stopped it anyway. Jaidi said: 'I saw the keeper was a bit frustrated, so I thought I could maybe affect his concentration. It's something we used to do at Bolton. Kevin Nolan did it all the time.

'I suppose I learned it from him. It's not something we practise here, but I just thought I'd give it a go.' McLeish was happy to settle for a point after going behind five minutes earlier to Joleon Lescott's goal, although he would have been hopeful of all three before it.

He said: "I've seen Zarate on DVD taking free-kicks like that and he practises in training all the time. There was a bit of a gathering round the ball, so I made sure David Murphy knew I wanted Zarate to take it."

With four games left, though, the Scot knows he urgently needs to find a solution to a recurring problem. Since his arrival in December, Birmingham have conceded from setpieces in seven games, often losing points late on.

To illustrate the point, Birmingham had 11 corners but Everton scored from their only one, Lescott nodding in after Victor Anichebe had won the ball first.

"We have to give everything," said McLeish, "Roy Hodgson and Gary Megson will be saying the same thing, but I saw a brilliant performance today against a very good team.

"We don't have the embarrassment of riches like Everton do but we played ever so well in the second half. I'm pleased to get the point after we looked down and out.

"I don't think that we are a brilliant passing team but we do play good tempo football, especially here at St Andrew's.

"However, we have not taken as many points as we should at home. We came close to doing it today so you have to keep encouraging and be positive."

That will be David Moyes' message too although the evidence suggests his squad are beginning to run out of steam. Mikel Arteta did not train all week and Leon Osman was a more surprising omission from his starting line-up.

Much of Everton's guile disappears with Arteta. At the start of the year, the other obvious alternative to the Spaniard was a Scot. However, James McFadden now plays in the blue of Birmingham.

"I think we have to say we are missing players who are important to us," said Moyes,

"Today we were without Mikel Arteta and Leon Osman, who played a big part in last week's victory over Derby. Obviously we were without a goalscorer in Tim Cahill, so they are big misses to any team.

"If we'd known what was around the corner, we wouldn't have let McFadden go. We lost him just after January when he would have been coming back fresher than maybe some of the others."

"It's really made it difficult to see how we can put out a midfield which we feel will get us some form of result just now."