Bruce on look-out for defenders

Birmingham boss Steve Bruce has admitted that he has made two bids for current Premiership players as he looks to bolster his injury-ravaged defence.

Bruce has all five of his recognised centre-halves out of action and is being linked with Leeds’ Michael Duberry and Arsenal’s Matthew Upson.

The Blues chief has already brought in Bordeaux striker Christophe Dugarry and Lens full-back Ferdinand Coly on loan until the end of the campaign.

But it is the middle of the defence that is giving him the most cause for concern with Darren Purse, Kenny Cunningham, Michael Johnson, Steve Vickers and Olivier Tebily all sidelined.

He had to partner right-back Jeff Kenna and rookie Joey Hutchinson in Sunday’s 3-1 FA Cup reversal by Fulham at Loftus Road.

Bruce confirmed: “We have put in an offer for a couple of Premiership players and we are waiting for the respective clubs to get back and say whether they are going to sanction them or not.

“We are really hoping that we can do something because it is freakish what has happened to us in terms of all the injuries in the same area of the squad.

“Cunningham will be out for six weeks, Purse for another four weeks and Tebily for three months. We can’t afford to have five centre-halves missing. It is a cause for concern.

“We played Kenna there for the first time in his career at Fulham while Kenna was playing only his second first-team game. At this level you can’t get away with it.

“But the one thing we’ve got to make sure is, even though we’ve got our backs to the wall, is that anyone who comes in is better than what we’ve already got. We can’t just dive in there because it would not be the right thing to do.”