Birmingham duo ruled out

Birmingham winger David Bentley and defender Martin Jiranek have been ruled out of tomorrow’s Barclays Premier League clash at Blackburn.

Former Rovers player Bentley is suffering from a groin problem while Jiranek has not recovered from the toe injury which required surgery.

Eight-goal leading scorer Nikola Zigic and fellow striker Obafemi Martins are given only a 50-50 chance of being fit by Blues boss Alex McLeish.

The duo are both troubled by groin injuries while, in addition, Zigic also has concerns over a hip problem.

James McFadden and Scott Dann remain on the sidelines with knee and hamstring problems and are unlikely to return from long term lay-offs this season.

Provisional squad: Foster, Carr, Johnson, Ridgewell, Parnaby, Larsson, Ferguson, Gardner, Bowyer, Phillips, Jerome, Doyle, Davies, Murphy, Fahey, Zigic, Martins, Beausejour, Mutch.