BLUES SKIPPER: HARD WORK PAYS DIVIDEND
BIRMINGHAM CAPTAIN DELIGHTED TO BOOST SURVIVAL BID WITH THREE WINS IN A ROW
Birmingham City captain Michael Morrison believes that hard work on the training ground is paying off in the fight for Championship survival.
The Blues moved five points above the drop zone – eight clear of Sunderland and bottom club Burton Albion –thanks to Tuesday’s 1-0 victory at fellow strugglers Bolton.
It was a third successive win for Garry Monk’s men at just the right time, following up a 3-0 defeat of Hull and a 1-0 success against Ipswich.
“We did the basics right, we headed it, kicked it and we were a real solid unit,” said Morrison.
“It really showed the benefit of our hard work that we’ve put in over the last three to four weeks.
“Over the international break, we were working hard so it’s nice to see that come off for us.
“I can’t recall the last time we had three clean sheets in the league.
“We looked convincing and strong all the way to the end. It was real good backsto-the-wall defending.”
Morrison hailed the allround team performance but pin pointed match winner Lukas Jutkiewicz.
“Lukas was really good,” Morrison told bcfc.com.
“He has had to be really patient this year when he was out of the team. He has worked hard behind the scenes and he fully deserved his goal.
“It was brilliant to see him score. Lukas gives us a really good platform. His work-rate was tireless up there and that really helped us get out from the back.”
Morrison was thrilled to secure the three precious points for the impressive away support of 4,812.
He added: “Before the game, we said there are 5,000 people coming up and we need to put in a performance.
“The whole stand was full and they was brilliant before the game when we were warming up.
“We’ve got a lot of new players who haven’t seen that before and this is what Birmingham City can be.
“It was nice to see a lot of positivity. We are all working together now.”
Boss Monk is taking nothing for granted as regards the survival push. “We knew it was a massive game against a team who were directly above us,” said Monk.
“We knew it was an opportunity to try and claw them closer to us and pull them into this relegation fight.
“What the three wins in a row have done is keep boosting the belief. However, I am very mindful we are still very much in a relegation fight.
“It is going to change week-to-week but what we want to be is a team that hunts for the guys above us rather than checking over our shoulders all the time.
“We still need more wins and more points.”