Source: Team_Talk
Bowyer: Blues can stay in top half
ee Bowyer says "greedy" Birmingham are aiming to retain their place in the top half of the Premier League until the end of the season.[LNB] The Blues were written off by the pundits and bookmakers at the beginning of the campaign and expected by many to make a quickfire return to the Championship.[LNB]But Alex McLeish's side have been in the top half of the table since early December and are unbeaten at home for seven months.[LNB]Birmingham again showed their fighting qualities in coming from behind to draw 1-1 with visiting Liverpool on Sunday with Liam Ridgewell's goal cancelling out Steven Gerrard's opener.[LNB]It means they have avoided defeat against any of the current top six at home and are on 46 points with five games remaining.[LNB]Midfielder Bowyer, who has been a key component in City's success, said: "It surprised everybody, including the players and the manager, that we reached the 40-point mark as early as we did.[LNB]"If we are all honest with each other, we thought it was going to be a lot harder than it was and that is a credit to everybody at the club for the hard work we have put in.[LNB]"We have surprised a lot of teams but we have still got to finish as high as possible.[LNB]"Once we did reach the 40-point mark, we could have taken our foot off the pedal but we have showed we want to get as many points as possible.[LNB]"It would be disappointing now if we didn't finish in the top half but, like I said all the way through that amazing unbeaten run we were on mid-way through the season, we have got to be realistic here.[LNB]"We haven't got a very big squad and we just need to keep taking it point by point.[LNB]"Even if we don't end up in the top half, it still hasn't been a bad season because everyone tipped us to go down.[LNB]"At the start of the season we would have taken 17th position but now we want to be greedy and we want to finish in the top 10."[LNB]Gerrard broke the deadlock a minute into the second half after a mis-hit shot from Glen Johnson fell invitingly into his path.[LNB]The England midfielder then made space for himself before curling into the far corner.[LNB]But Ridgewell rocked the Reds back on their heels eight minutes later when no-one picked up his run into the box before he turned home a cross from James McFadden.[LNB]Ridgewell took particular pleasure from his equaliser as he was part of the Blues side which surrendered a two-goal lead in a 2-2 home draw with Liverpool two years ago - a result which effectively doomed them to relegation.[LNB]Ridgewell said: "That result a couple of years ago was a difficult one to take, being 2-0 up and them coming back at us.[LNB]"It was a big part of us being relegated, dropping those two points near the end of the season - and we only went down by one point.[LNB]"I think that is one of the reasons why we have kicked on this season because we didn't want that to happen again.[LNB]"But we have done the sort of thing Liverpool did that day so well ourselves this season, coming back from 1-0 down and even 2-0 down against Everton.[LNB]"People know we never say die, and we have done it against the top sides as well, and that has been the way it has been this season, especially at home.[LNB]"We have always believed in ourselves to come back and we did that again against Liverpool."
