James McFadden (groin) and Liam Ridgewell (virus) were late withdrawals from McLeish's first team squad ahead of the game at St Andrews. "A couple of players gave us the warning at half-time that they might not last but they had to go through it. "But we won't feel sorry for ourselves. The 16 were there for us and they churned out another fantastic three points. "It is cotton wool time now. We have got to wrap these guys up as they have to go again on Tuesday (against Plymouth Argyle) such is the intensity of the league we are playing in." "I wasn't entirely delighted with the performance because Watford gave us some scares. "At 2-1 things were a bit nervy and that is when you are looking for some composure but Watford piled forward."
However, Blues came from a goal behind to earn a 3-2 victory against Brendan Rodgers' side to move to within three points of Championship leaders Wolves after their 1-0 defeat at QPR.
"We were hot and cold at times but we were down to our last 16 players for the game due to injuries and a virus going around," the Blues boss said after the game.