Birmingham boss Alex McLeish praises attitude of midfielder Lee Bowyer

25 November 2010 09:29
Alex McLeish has praised the attitude and response of Birmingham midfielder Lee Bowyer to losing his first team spot earlier in the season.[LNB]Bowyer formed an impressive partnership last season with Barry Ferguson in ensuring Blues finished ninth in their first season back in the Barclays Premier League.[LNB]He lost his place during the current campaign to Craig Gardner who is currently the club's leading scorer with four goals.[LNB] Giving Chelsea the Blues: Lee Bowyer scores the winner against Chelsea last weekend[LNB]But Gardner's ankle injury earned Bowyer a reprieve - and he responded by scoring the winner against Chelsea at St Andrew's last weekend.[LNB]McLeish said: "It's difficult to keep everyone happy and guys like Lee Bowyer, Kevin Phillips, Matt Derbyshire and David Murphy want to play.[LNB]'Lee knocked on my door at the beginning when Gardner took his place.[LNB]'It would be great in one way if the players didn't do that because you wouldn't get the hassle.[LNB]'But if you've got players who don't want to play, you're really struggling.[LNB]'Lee wasn't delighted at being left out but he's knuckled down, trained hard and never put a foot wrong against Chelsea.[LNB]'His goal was trademark Lee Bowyer, coming from the sort of runs he has been making all his career.'[LNB]Bowyer scored six times last season but his goal against Chelsea was his first for 11 months.[LNB] Fulham target Bothroyd vows to stay at Cardiff until the end of the seasonSuperb Foster keeps league leaders at bay after veteran Bowyer scores for first time in a yearBIRMINGHAM FC

Source: Daily_Mail