Birmingham City: What’s the latest on the injury front?

Just when things appeared to be picking up for Birmingham City – certainly in terms of a transformation in their attacking play – more injuries have struck to kill any momentum that was being gained.

However, the weekend’s return to action of an albeit rusty Tahith Chong and Taylor Richards being named as a substitute does at least give Blues fans some hope that all is not lost for the final quarter of the campaign.

With Blues still perhaps needing two or three more wins to secure their Championship status, there is work to be done and the sight of forward Lyle Taylor pulling up with a tight groin in the warm-up against Huddersfield was the last thing the club needed.

Maxime Colin limping away from the action midway through the first half with a calf strain was a further hammer blow and means Blues could go into Saturday’s visit to Bristol City with just one senior defender – Kristian Pedersen – available.

Hopefully for boss Lee Bowyer and the long-suffering Blues faithful, he will be able to call on the services of one, two or ideally all of Teden Mengi, Marc Roberts and George Friend at Ashton Gate and that, should, in theory, give Blues more of a base to at least try and cut out the cheap goals which have plagued them in recent weeks.

At the other end of the pitch, with Scott Hogan, Troy Deeney and now possibly Taylor sidelined, Blues will need all the creativity they can and this is where both Chong and Richards could have key roles to play.

Both stepped up their returns from injury yesterday by playing for 45 minutes in the under 23s’ 4-2 victory over Middlesbrough in Premier League 2 at St Andrew’s.

Chong, Richards, George Hall and Brandon Khela were all on the scoresheet in an impressive display in which Richards in particular tormented the Teessiders.

Marcel Oakley, Renedi Masampu, Tate Campbell, Nico Gordon and Jobe Bellingham – all of whom have featured in Blues’ first team 18 in recent weeks – were also in action, as was free agent Andre Wisdom, who played the full 90 minutes as Bowyer weighs up whether to offer a contract to the versatile former Derby County and Liverpool defender.

What has Manchester United loanee Tahith Chong had to say about his comeback from injury having been sidelined since October?

It is very difficult. From the start, when I got in, the staff, players and fans (of Blues) just welcomed me and I felt so, so welcome at the club,” said the 22-year-old.

“When you feel welcome you want to give your all to the club and to just go out with an injury from nowhere was really tough.

“Even back home I was watching all the games and stuff and it’s tough sometimes because you want to be on the pitch. Every footballer wants to be on the pitch.”

What has Blues boss Lee Bowyer said about the midfielder who made such an impact in the early part of the season?

“We all have to be patient with Chong. It was good to see him out there against Huddersfield but it’s going to take a while to get Tahith back to the position he was before the injury.”

Blues fans will hope, though, that they at least get to see a decent number of matches with the likes of Chong, Richards, Onel Hernandez and Juninho Bacuna supplying Taylor, Deeney and Hogan.

If they do, then a hugely frustrating season hampered massively throughout by injuries may at least end on a high note.

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