Jim Magilton admitted his Ipswich Town side 'lacked quality around the box' after their 1-0 defeat at home to Birmingham City.

James McFadden grabbed the only goal six minutes before half-time when he coolly slotted home a penalty, after a handball by Moritz Volz.

The German put his arm out to block Kemy Agustien's cross and Berkshire referee Iain Williamson pointed to the spot.

It was just about the only talking point of a very flat, lacklustre game in which there were few other key moments.

Ipswich had plenty of possession but failed to cause problems, apart from speculative efforts from Tommy Miller, Darren Ambrose and Ivan Campo.

Kevin Lisbie then had one late, scrambled effort cleared from in front of the line by Nicky Hunt.

“For 30 minutes we were very good. We passed the ball well but lacked a bit of quality around the box,” said Ipswich boss Jim Magilton.

“It was a soft penalty. I haven't seen it again and I don't want to, but it looked pretty soft.

“Birmingham are a real Premier League team and they saw the game out.

“Had we got our noses in front it might have been a different story.

“They've got enough about them and strength in depth, but it was a game of very few chances and neither goalkeeper had a save to make.

“We lost a bit of impetus after Danny Haynes went off but should have come out with all guns blazing in the second half. As it was, we didn't have enough on the day to disrupt them.”

Birmingham boss McLeish praised the resilience and character of his side after their victory at Portman Road.

He said: “It wasn't a great game but we did enough.

“We protected our lead in the second half and could have shown a bit more composure and picked Ipswich off.

“After back-to-back defeats, the boys were a bit edgy and this is a difficult place to come, but we showed a lot of character.

“The defence and goalkeeper showed resilience and were delighted to keep a clean sheet – I know I always did, as a defender.

“It's as important for them as it is for a striker to score a goal.

“Psychologically it's always nice to be in the top two (City are third) but the most important thing is to be there when it matters at the end of the season and churning out results like this will certainly help.”