You need reliable players to stay up, Jewell tells Birmingham boss

"I don't want to put pressure on the players or the manager but we are all under pressure. This is our cup final."

Scroll down to read more:

Gold would have been more disappointed after a man called Villa — Emanuel, Derby's new striker — netted an equaliser one minute from time to cancel Seb Larsson's opener.

During his two-month reign, the former Scotland boss has overseen matches against six of Birmingham's immediate relegation rivals. They have played four on their own turf, won just once and have dropped into the bottom three. Toss into the mix the embarrassment of an FA Cup exit at Huddersfield Town and it appears the goodwill in the boardroom is slowly dissipating.

The comments from McLeish's boss were uncharacteristic of the St Andrew's regime.

The heat really is on if the club's owners start breaking ranks — not that they are without blame, either — given the confusion caused by Carson Yeung's aborted takeover. Derby boss Paul Jewell has been in the relegation scrap twice — with Bradford City and Wigan Athletic — and escaped.

He knows what McLeish needs to survive in the Barclays Premier League.

"You need big men, strong men," he said. "It's going to go right down to the wire. A strong mentality is what you need. I had the likes of Stuart McCall, John Dreyer, Darren Moore, Gary Walsh and Dean Saunders at Bradford. And Matt Jackson and Arjan de Zeeuw at Wigan. You know you can rely on them. That's what it's going to take."

Home skipper Damien Johnson suffered when Birmingham were relegated two seasons ago, and said: "We have young players and they have to grow up quickly. We have the right type of characters to come through this, though."

Good performances that go unrewarded by maximum points remain the overriding characteristic of Birmingham's season.

McLeish said: "There are plenty of points to play for, the league is decided in May. There's no reason to panic. This wasn't the deciding game."

Derby's defence was undoubtedly strengthened by the arrival of Roy Carroll and Alan Stubbs but Jewell has obviously got one eye on the Championship.