Alex McLeish revealed that it was under his orders that Mauro Zarate took the free-kick from which the Argentinean secured a precious point against Everton at St. Andrew's today.

With several Blues players standing around the ball for the 83rd minute set piece, the boss passed a message through David Murphy to make sure that it was the 21-year-old that stepped up.

McLeish said that he'd seen the striker, who'd only been on the pitch seven minutes as a late substitute, take free-kicks in training as well as viewing footage of the loanee scoring from similar positions for his previous clubs.

"If Larsson had been on the pitch then he'd have probably pulled rank and taken it as he's been successful from a couple of them already this season from similar positions," said the Blues boss.

"I saw our congregation gathering around the ball and I know at any given moment a few players on the pitch fancy themselves to pop it over the wall and into the top corner.

"So I made sure David Murphy (the nearest player to McLeish) knew that I wanted Zarate to take it!

"And it was a beautiful finish."

McLeish admitted that Zarate was still getting used to the British game.

"He is still learning the team game. If he had gone to some of the bigger clubs, you probably wouldn't see him for six months," commented the boss.

"But we've brought him in, we've embraced him and encouraged him. He's popular with the squad but I've got to be careful that I'm not throwing him in every week just for the sake of the individual skills that he's got.

"I had two experienced strikers at the start, two international players (Mikael Forssell and James McFadden) and I knew that we had a deadly weapon in Mauro coming off the bench.

"He was disappointed not to start but I told him before the game that he could still make an impact and he certainly did that!"

After an uneventful first half, Blues raised their game in the second half and McLeish felt that his team deserved more than a point.

But in the end he was relieved to get something from the afternoon and keep a two-point buffer between themselves and the drop zone.

"Mauro's goal could turn out to be very important. It was a cruel blow to go behind but the second half performance was exceptional," said the boss.

"We went up a gear and found another couple of per cent. It was only the finishing touch that let us down plus some terrific stops by Howard.

"The draw was the least we deserved and really I thought we deserved to win it on our second half display.

"Everton's goal was against the run of play but we bounced back.

"Our rivals around about us, Bolton and Fulham, have secured two brilliant results so this point could prove to be very important."

McLeish finished by revealing the latest news on injuries - Seb Larsson and Forssell were both forced to leave the action early, as well as praising Gary McSheffrey for his efforts.

"Mikael turned his ankle but the physios are optimistic about his recovery between now and next week," he concluded.

"And Seb tweaked his medial ligament. He's a good healer and the physios are not overly concerned. We'll have to see with him over the next 48 hours. He'll probably get a scan on Monday.

"Mehdi Nafti was struggling with cramp and I've got to be careful with McFadden as well.

"Kapo should be available to us next week and I'm sure his hamstring should be strong enough to push for a place in the squad.

"Although I have to say that McSheffrey was terrific today. He deservedly got the chants from the fans and he showed some quality today.

"He has worked hard and never shirked his job. He's been honest and we got some good service from Sheff today."