Birmingham City return to St Andrew’s this weekend looking to put a poor result and flat performance at Bristol City behind them
Marc Leonard has urged Birmingham City to ‘dust ourselves down’ ahead of this weekend’s Championship clash with Portsmouth.
Blues return to St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park on the back of a loss at Bristol City last time out – and the end to their long unbeaten run to Hull City in their previous home match.
In between they went to in-form Preston North End and won, but once again a failure to convert pressure into goals cost them at Ashton Gate.
The Scot, who has started three of the last four games, admits Blues have to be better at doing that but also insists the commitment levels won’t drop.
“I don’t think you’ll ever be able to question that [fight] from us,” he told Blues TV. “I think the manager instils that into us every single day.
“Regardless of the result, you’ll see us playing the way that he wants, and you’ll see us running our socks off no matter what.
“Look we’re just disappointed the fans couldn’t go away with a win [at Bristol City]. It’s just one of them games that’s annoying, it’s come at a horrible time for us as well.
“We hoped we would be in a better position than this but look, we just have to dust ourselves down.
“The good thing about this league is that there’s plenty more games to come and we’re playing some good football.
“We just have to stick with it and the chances will come, I’m sure of it. There was a lot of good stuff in the last two games.”
Speaking after the Bristol City reverse, boss Chris Davies also lamented his team’s ‘jaded’ appearance.
“It was a difficult game,” Leonard admitted. “We planned all week to manage the counter-attack that we know that obviously they’re good at, they’ve had success in recent games and I think the one time they managed to do it, they end up scoring, so it’s hugely disappointing from us.
“We’d have hoped to come and get more than zero points obviously but the way we played and we kept going right to the end and we definitely deserved a little bit more.
“They’re a good team, you have to be aware of their strengths. But I thought we played some good football first half, second half, and I think there’s chances that we have a few that flash across the face of goal and some that have fallen to the edge of the box.
“We’ve got to do better in those situations. The fans come everywhere with us, so it’ll be good to get back at home. Obviously we lost the last home game, so we’re desperate to put that right.”
Will Blues get back on track vs Portsmouth? Have your say here
Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
£49
£35
Sky
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle for the 2025/26 season, saving members £336 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games this season, an increase of up to 100 more.