Alex McLeish believes Birmingham are seeing the best of veteran midfielder Lee Bowyer because he has learned to control his temperament.

McLeish admits many people viewed the signing of Bowyer from West Ham last January - initially on loan - as a massive gamble.

But the former England player contributed significantly to Blues gaining promotion back to the Barclays Premier League at the first attempt before moving on a permanent basis in the summer.

And the 32-year-old has continued in the same vein back in the top flight and netted the winner against visiting Fulham on Saturday - his fourth goal of the campaign.

McLeish said: "When Lee came here, I chatted with him and said 'you are a grown and mature man.'

"He has had to count to 10. He used to have a short fuse. I think he has done well in terms of the red mist. I see it in training sometimes and give a wee reminder and he kind of puts the brakes on.

"But he is a passionate guy, he plays with passion, plays with great commitment, and is the type of player I love.

"When he first arrived, a lot of people were saying he was not the same player as before and that his legs had gone. But he has proved a lot of people wrong."

McLeish acknowledges playing Bowyer as the advanced midfielder in a 4-5-1 formation earlier in the season did not work but feels he is getting the best from him operating behind two strikers.

He said: "We tried him in that advanced midfield role, with the one up, early in the season and you don't really get the best out of him.

"But, coming deeper from midfield, he is still a threat and he picks his moments. We have told him to pick his moments. He can't do it every single run.

"He is now a mature, intelligent guy with a lot of experience and older players tend to learn from their experiences during the seasons."

Fulham midfielder Jonathan Greening refused to blame injuries to the likes of Danny Murphy and Andrew Johnson for the Cottagers' stuttering away form.

The former West Brom skipper said: "We've still got a lot of players out like Johnson and Murphy but at home we seem to dominate games and win quite convincingly whereas away we have a lot of play and can't seem to break teams down.

"We've lost to all three midlands teams now this season (Aston Villa, Wolves, Birmingham) so it is not good for us.

"But we believe in the way we play and we work hard in the week on the training ground and I'm sure we will bounce back.

"We've got our game in hand against Blackburn to play on Wednesday at home so hopefully we can put in a good performance and get three points and start climbing the table again."

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson left Damien Duff out of his starting line-up after the World Cup play-off agony with the Republic of Ireland but Greening is confident he will put that misery behind him.

Greening said: "Can I understand the manager leaving out Duff? He has got his reasons because Damien played two tough and emotional games for Ireland.

"He only trained with us on Friday and we'd been working on team play for the last couple of weeks and Damien had not been with us.

"He is a quality player and you could see that when he came on and I am sure he will be playing against Blackburn.

"A few of the boys asked him why he cried on the pitch (against France) but it was understandable.

"If I was his age, and it was my last chance to play in the World Cup, I think I'd be upset.

"But he is a top player and a really good lad."