Blues Revival Starts Here

Autumn may be blowing in but spring is in the air at Ipswich as the green shoots of recovery are hoped for now Mick McCarthy is here.

He will give fresh inpetus to everyone, or as ritchie Wellens put it so succicntly in the Daily Express 'a rocket up their backsides'.

New Town boss Mick McCarthy is expecting a big reaction from his players or else.

He told the Irish Independent: "I can smash a few earholes because, if that is what it needs, I am more than happy to do that," he warned. "If players don't care then they have to go, although I hope I don't see that.

"We have to start pulling our fingers out. It is a fantastic club with a great fan base, what it hasn't got at the moment is a particularly good team.

"There becomes a horrible, soggy damp atmosphere when you just can't get a win. I have looked at a couple of DVDs. The one of the match against Sheffield Wednesday was horrendous. It should have been watched on Halloween."

City skipper Steven Cauldwell believes wins over the two bottom club, Ipswich and then Bristol City on Tuesday, will catapult Birmingham away from the bottom.

He told the Birmingham mail: "The fightback display at Millwall and the win at Leeds United have given Blues confidence.

"After such a bad start against Millwall that could have been three points quite easily.

"So it was a real big win for us to get a 1-0 at Leeds United, a tough place to go. We did extremely well on the day in sort of every facet of our game.

"We have to build on that with these two games, games we feel that if we play to our potential we can win."

Ritchie Wellens is a doubt with a thoat infection so it will be interesting to see what McCarthy initially regards as his strongest side.

Apart from Wellens, he has no real injury or suspension concerns but a compact, defence-minded side is expected in order to secure at least a point.

The Brummies have Nikola Zigic back after serving a three-match ban and Peter Lovenkrands expected back after a groin injury.

Chris Burke may again have to make do with a place on the bench with Nathan Redmond on the right flank and Wade Elliott on the left.

Stuart Attwell

A tight, if not particularly pretty game will result in a 1-0 win for us, although I would settle for a draw

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