City looked devoid of energy during the opening 45 minutes after their Carling Cup triumph over Aston Villa in midweek and trailed at the interval to a goal from Sebastien Bassong. But the home side dug deep once again and a second half goal from top scorer Craig Gardner means they have only been beaten once in front of their own fans since September 2009. McLeish said: "The Villa game took unbelievable energy out of the players. It was an emotional night. "Harry (Redknapp) might have thought we were there for the taking because of that. "A lot of players were running on empty and we had to patch them up but one thing you can't deny them is our phenomenal spirit. "Spurs were fresh today, having not played in midweek, and they had chances in the first half, but we could have won it in the second. We shuffled things tactically and were more effective." McLeish brought on midweek goal hero Nikola Zigic and the Serbian international set up the equaliser. McLeish said: "I would say that was the most effective he has been for us. He did not lose a header in the air today. He is adjusting to the different style of football over here." In injury time Tottenham defender Alan Hutton appeared to head-butt Birmingham defender David Murphy in the chest after being on the receiving end of a late challenge. But referee Kevin Friend took no action against either player. McLeish, who managed Hutton at Rangers, said: "Did the referee see it? He could not have seen it but I'm not here to talk about players getting sent off. "It was a reaction from Hutton over a bad tackle on him, a split second emotional reaction." Spurs boss Redknapp claimed he did not see the incident and was more concerned about his side throwing away two points. He said: "At half-time, I couldn't see any other result other than three points for us. "We dominated the first half but they brought Zigic on and that's the best I've seen him play. "It feels like a missed opportunity. I thought we would win here and at half-time I felt sure we would. "I said at half-time that there were more goals for us, to keep going forward, but we started dropping deeper. "Gardner kept making runs forward and eventually got on the end of something. "The same happened last year when they got a last minute equaliser but this is not an easy place to come and Alex gets everything out of them week in and week out." Regarding the Hutton challenge, Redknapp said: "I know I might sound like another manager but I saw the tackle and not what went on after that. "You cannot retaliate but I swear I didn't see it. If someone shows me a replay now, I will give them an opinion."
