Alexander Hleb pounced on a mistake by Stephen Crainey to put Blues ahead in the first half at Bloomfield Road before DJ Campbell's 68th-minute equaliser.

The visitors then sealed a dramatic 2-1 victory right at the end of a chaotic match in which the woodwork had been struck three times.

Roger Johnson headed the ball down for Scott Dann to fire home the winner with a minute of normal time remaining, and McLeish felt his team had done well to overcome the psychological burden of knowing they were in the bottom three going into the game.

"We showed the character right to the end," said McLeish.

"It is a great lift. The players themselves know they played extremely well in the first half and that they didn't do so well in the second half, but there is obviously a big psychological effect when you find yourself at the bottom of the table."

The result took Birmingham up from 19th to 15th place in the table - something McLeish was far more concerned about than the fact that it was also their first away win of the season.

"I am delighted to win the game first and foremost," McLeish said.

"I suppose people will stop asking about the away record now, although they might be asking me about it only being one (away win) in six months time.

"But it is three valuable points and that is the main thing."

McLeish's opposite number Ian Holloway paid tribute to Blackpool's efforts in the second half and said he was satisfied Dann's goal should have stood, having initially been enraged it was not disallowed for offside.

"I thought in the first half we fell into their trap again - how they were set up stopped us from doing what we normally do and we spoke about that at half time," Holloway said.

"We managed to play a lot better from there with the same team, so I was pleased with that. We went and got a terrific goal and I thought it would be our night.

"Then, unfortunately, I've had to eat a massive humble pie - there were people offside (when Dann scored), but they weren't involved in the move.

"The one who headed it and the one who scored were not offside, so I've had to apologise to the referee. I was going mad at the fourth official because I saw two people offside.

"I thought we deserved a point but that is the way it goes sometimes."