Morrison determined to be Bruce force for Blues

Ian Parkes

Birmingham boss Steve Bruce conceded earlier this week he had let down the striker by relegating him to the bench following the transfer window arrivals of Robbie Blake and Walter Pandiani.

Despite scoring four goals in five matches at the end of last year, Morrison is again fourth-choice forward at St Andrews and striving to fight off the newcomers as he has so often done in the past.

Yet Bruce insists he does not want Morrison to quit and is willing to sit down with the 25-year-old at the end of the season to discuss a contract extension.

Morrison is happy to do that but is most anxious to make sure he is playing matches.

Wednesaday night's outing for the Republic of Ireland against Portugal at Lansdowne Road gave him a much-needed run out, and he admitted afterwards: "I'm disappointed over what's happened at Birmingham and I've made that known to the manager.

"But I'm not going to sulk and start ranting and raving and having a go at him. All I can do is carry on working hard in training, showing him what I can do and when I come on as a sub show him I should be in the team. That's the bottom line.

"I know I was in great form in December. Emile (Heskey) and I had a great partnership and although I wasn't scoring in

January, I was creating loads of goals. I still feel now I'm on top of my game and that I could take it to another level and carry on scoring."

Bruce has not apparently shared that confidence.

"The manager felt he needed to freshen things up, and the new guys have come in and scored goals which means I am going to have to bide my time now and wait for my chance to come again," said Morrison.

"If it does, then I will take it again like I have done previously but I am definitely disappointed to have been dropped. It's happened in the past, and I'm fed up. But then you hear the manager say he wants to offer me a new contract so we will sit down at the end of the season and come to some agreement, because I want to stay at Birmingham. It's a big club."

Morrison is not appeased by assurances that he has outstayed other contenders.

"I want to play. He [Bruce] says I have seen off other players like Christophe Dugarry and the like, but I don't want to have to continue seeing off players. I want to make the position my own, because I have total confidence in my own ability. People who want to knock me can carry on doing that if they want.

"They can question me, and I will continue to prove them wrong. That's what I have always done and I'll do it again."

Thankfully for Morrison, Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr has always retained faith in his ability and that was again the case yesterday.

"If he maintains the form he has recently shown for Birmingham and for us, because he had a smashing game then I think he will be okay."

Ireland resume their bid with an Easter Saturday clash in Israel, and Morrison added: "I thought it went well and I felt I worked hard, although I'm disappointed I didn't score.

"It doesn't matter what other people say; it's about what the manager says and he said 'Terrific you led the line, did well and worked hard'.

"I needed that because I've not started a game for a couple of weeks and in the end I was tiring on a heavy pitch. They were hard conditions to play in."

Meanwhile, Andy O'Brien knows the Republic of Ireland cannot afford to lose Damien Duff if they are to achieve their aim of reaching the World Cup finals.

The Newcastle centre-back admitted he was "fortunate" to collect man of the match honours after watching Duff rightly receive a standing ovation from a capacity 44,100 crowd for his captivating 69-minute display.

O'Brien said: "He is very important to our hopes of qualifying. He is a real handful to play against and he is still only young.

"To play with him is certainly something I prefer to do. He has always had a status in football of being a very good player and he is getting his rewards because he is playing for arguably the biggest club in the Premier League.

"He is getting a lot of the spotlight on him and is producing the goods which everybody knew he could."

Duff provides plenty of industry too another point not lost on O'Brien.

"At one point in the game he was left-back, so not only does he go forward but he also defends and that is a recipe for success," he said.

"As a defender I can appreciate that. You don't see it every week, but it's one of the qualities we have in the squad that everyone busts a gut for everyone else."