John Eustace issues Dion Sanderson and Scott Hogan injury updates after Hull City defeat

Birmingham City head coach John Eustace provided updates on the fitness of Dion Sanderson and Scott Hogan after Friday evening’s 1-0 home defeat to Hull City. Wolves loanee Sanderson was forced off just before the hour mark with an injury, whereas Hogan failed to make the matchday squad for a fourth successive fixture.

Blues rounded off the calendar year with a second loss in a row as Oscar Estupinan grabbed the only goal of the night at St Andrew’s to help Hull to a surprise win. Birmingham looked fatigued, particularly in the wing-back positions, as the visitors ran the likes of Emmanuel Longelo and Maxime Collin ragged on the flanks.

Sanderson going off was insult to injury for Eustace’s men who now sit in 16th, a fair few places further down the standings than before the World Cup break. “We fell short on the physical side,” Eustace said post-match. “Overall tonight we weren’t at the races and it’s something we’ve got to look at. We can’t dwell on it, though, as we’ve got a tough game to come.

“Dion came off with a slight strain to the hamstring, I think. That’s something we’ve got to look at and he will be getting scanned at the weekend, I’m sure. We were looking to maybe make a change at half time but we had to be careful on the changes because obviously there were a couple struggling, and that delayed our decision-making on that. He ended up going off.

“Scott is really close to joining back in with the group. He’s a top player, a top striker in the league and we’re missing him of course. I’m sure he will definitely be back for the Forest Green game. He’s also had a really bad virus last week which kept him away for three or four days which put us back. Monday might come a day or two too early.”

The boss revealed Hogan was not the only one to suffer from said virus, as a number of unnamed players were down with stomach pain and diarrhoea before the Burnley game. Eustace admitted the sickness bug going around may have had some impact on the energy levels but insisted he did not want to start making excuses.

Birmingham have the weekend to recover before they take on yet another tough challenge, at home to Middlesbrough on Monday evening.