Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish plans to draw on his experiences of final-day drama in Scotland this week.

McLeish guided Rangers to the 2005 Scottish Premier League title after a nervous last day of the campaign, when Celtic’s result swung in their favour.

He will now face a similarly nervy finale at Reading this coming Sunday after seeing his side blow a golden opportunity for automatic promotion to the Premier League following a 2-1 home defeat to Preston North End on Saturday.

With Sheffield United and Reading both wanting McLeish’s men to slip up, Birmingham will have to go to the Madejski Stadium and win to guarantee an instant return to the top flight.

Now it is up to McLeish to drum the belief into his players in the same manner he did at Rangers four years ago.

“At half-time in the last game, Celtic were winning at Motherwell and we were drawing at Hibernian and it was their title to win,” said McLeish, reflecting on that dramatic day in 2005.

“The twist was that it changed in the second half but we kept the players with a positive mindset and I think that is what got us through in the end. They were positive and they still went for the win and we ended up getting the win {thanks to Nacho Novo’s 59th-minute goal] while Celtic lost two goals in the second-half [Scott McDonald scored in the 88th and 90th minutes for Motherwell.}

“That is the kind of belief that I will be clinging to and using this week. The players have got to believe that they can go to Reading and win.

“We will go through a lot of it and we will focus on the positives. We have to try and get the players to believe. That is quite simply the war cry this week, that they believe in themselves and in going to Reading and winning the game. They know that if there is no alternative to that, then it makes us as dangerous as Preston were.”

The second-half sending off of Lee Bowyer, along with Preston’s Lee Williamson, following a skirmish in the centre circle while Birmingham were still winning affected the hosts more than their visitors.

McLeish revealed after the game that he would view a replay of the incident to consider whether it was worth appealing against the red card.

After Saturday’s defeat, the Birmingham players returned to the St Andrew’s pitch for a lap of honour in the usual tradition of the final home fixture of the season. However, with it being a hotly-tempered evening that included two pitch invasions from individuals, McLeish admitted that his players were initially cautious about confronting their own supporters.

“I think they (the players) were a bit worried about the fans’ reaction but I’m delighted the fans received them with warm applause,” he added. “I think when they saw the invasions and a little bit of the angry mood at the final whistle there was a wee bit of doubt. They went out and the fans were terrific, they were just thanking them for the season.”

Match report, Page 46