Source: Daily_Mail
'I never doubted myself', insists free-scoring Birmingham ace Bowyer
On fire: Lee Bowyer has already bagged five goals for Alex McLeish's Birmingham this seasonLee Bowyer insisted his qualities have never waned and that he has proved the doubters wrong after becoming Birmingham's goal-scoring hero for the second successive match. The 32-year-old midfielder followed up his winner against Fulham with the decisive strike against Wolves at Molineux to move Blues into 11th spot in the Barclays Premier League. There were question marks in some quarters about the wisdom of Blues boss Alex McLeish bringing Bowyer to City from West Ham in January, firstly on loan before he made the move permanent in the summer. But Bowyer, who initially made his reputation at Charlton and Leeds, has showed his pedigree in helping Birmingham gain promotion and he is their top-scorer with five goals during the current campaign. The former England midfielder said: 'Goal-scoring and getting up the pitch has never gone. People might have forgotten about it but, when you play for different people, they want you to do different things. 'The manager here has asked me to get up and down (the pitch) and I am nicking the odd goal. In the the last two games fortunately it has got us six points. 'When I came here people said I am 32 and 'maybe his legs have gone' but my stats are maybe the best in our side. My fitness levels are very high. 'Leeds was a long time ago but I am still getting box to box. I have never doubted it. It is everyone else that has doubted it.' Still got it: Bowyer's shot is saved by Chelsea's Mark Bosnich in his Leeds heydayMcLeish, who was celebrating his second anniversary since becoming Blues boss, said: 'Lee has confounded his critics. He helped us to promotion last season and his return of five goals this season is fantastic. It is like the Bowyer of old. 'When I looked to bring in midfield players, David Sullivan (previous club owner) was always pretty big on 'he doesn't get any goals' when I flagged up a midfielder to him. 'When you sign someone like Bowyer you can say 'Bowyer does get goals' and his five so far this season is an incredible return.'Blues have taken 11 points from their last five games and were worthy winners against their local rivals. McLeish said: 'I thought it was a terrific performance. Wolves threw caution to the wind at the end and while it's 1-0 you are never totally comfortable. Match-winner: Bowyer (right) celebrates with his team-mates after scoring'But it was a fantastic performance from the players, awesome from start to finish. We worked really hard, we passed it well, showed great composure and stout defending, all the ingredients you would want from your football team.'Wolves remain four points adrift of the safety zone after their win-less sequence was extended to eight matches. Manager Mick McCarthy admitted: 'It is a hugely disappointing experience. I didn't turn up here expecting us to get beat 1-0. I didn't turn up here expecting us to play as poorly as we did in the first half. 'Birmingham played well but I don't think we competed like we normally do. People expected us to get beat by Chelsea and Arsenal but when Birmingham come here, we are expected to win and we didn't. 'They deservedly won. We were 1-0 down after three minutes and we hadn't made a tackle and it was always going to be difficult. 'It was a great bit of quality for the goal and if he hadn't scored we may well have been able to get a grip of them but we didn't. 'There was at least competition in the second half but Birmingham deserved to win. Losing 1-0 to Birmingham is always going to give me discomfort whether we have been brilliant or not.' Wolves 0 Birmingham 1: Bowyer's beauty has Blues on course for safetyJamie Redknapp's weekend watch: Can anyone stop Chelsea now?BIRMINGHAM CITY FC