The Blues boss admitted that the side had not played at the same level as they have in recent months.
However, they took a home point from the game against fourth-in-the-table Spurs as Liam Ridgewell's stoppage time effort cancelled out Jermain Defoe's goal for the visitors.
"I thought we lacked a bit of quality today and looked a little one-paced," McLeish said after the 1-1 draw at St Andrews.
"But, it was a marvellous result from a not very good performance from us.
"Our aggression and will to win got us through it."
McLeish also thought that the result had been sweet revenge for Blues' away defeat at White Hart Lane earlier in the season when Aaron Lennon scored a late goal for Spurs to earn them a somewhat fortunate 2-1 win.
"Now Harry [Redknapp] knows how I felt," he said.
"We got a bit of revenge today despite not showing the quality we have shown in the last three months."