Defensive woes for Blues

Birmingham are without central defenders Matthew Upson, Martin Taylor and Kenny Cunningham for tomorrow’s FA Cup fourth round tie at Reading.

Upson is serving a one-match ban after picking up five bookings, Taylor has an ankle injury and Cunningham has torn his groin.

In the absence of the trio, manager Steve Bruce faces the prospect of using full-backs Mario Melchiot and Alex Bruce as makeshift central defenders.

Stephen Clemence, David Dunn, Mikael Forssell and Neil Kilkenny are all hoping to win recalls to the starting line-up.

Team (from): Maik Taylor, Vaesen, Melchiot, Tebily, Painter, Pennant, Kilkenny, Izzet, Dunn, Clemence, Gray, Johnson, Lazaridis, Heskey, Sutton, Forssell.