Glee-sy does it for Stephen

STEPHEN GLEESON made Blackburn pay dearly for failing to heed the warning signs at St Andrew’s.

The Birmingham midfielder had wasted two great chances before David Cotterill presented him with another and he fired an unstoppable shot past Jason Steele in the 64th minute.

The Republic of Ireland international said: “I just kept making runs forward and nobody picked me up.

“I could easily have had two or three goals, but thankfully the third one went in.

‘‘It didn’t seem as though anyone was tracking me, so I just took a gamble and it paid off.”

Gleeson believes the strong competition in the squad will drive the Blues on to higher things.

“It’s good for everyone to have this competition for places, it keeps us all on our toes,” he said.

The international break has come at the right time for Rovers boss Owen Coyle after his side slumped to a seventh defeat in 11 league games – with their travelling support clearly angry.

Coyle said: “We’ll get to where we need to be. It’s frustrating because when you look back at recent games it’s fine margins and we’re in them right up to the last seconds.

“We all feel for the supporters because they have travelled a good distance to support the team – but we know that we will turn it round.

“The international break will give us the chance to freshen up the squad, then we’ll look to capitalise on a run of home games.”