Bruce wants Blues momentum to continue

Oct 5 2007 By Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail

STEVE Bruce today told Blues they must gear up for their bread-and-butter matches as they do for the glamour games.

So far this season Blues have had no trouble raising themselves against Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.

And the 'must-win' games that have an edge - Derby County and Bolton Wanderers - appear to be to their liking.

It's the other type of fixtures that are of concern to the manager.

Sunday's trip to Blackburn Rovers, for example, does not fire the imagination as much. The enmity caused by the Robbie Savage factor has slowly faded.

Blues then travel to Manchester City, before hosting Wigan Athletic.

"It's OK to get plaudits for Liverpool and Manchester United but we must keep our feet on the ground," Bruce stressed. "We've performed well against three very good teams in them and Chelsea.

"The Middlesbroughs of this world are, for me, the bread and butter - and we know what happened up there.

"It's all very well pitting yourselves against the Manchester Uniteds. You remember playing against them all your life, you always remember the big games.

"For me, we've got to focus on what's ahead of us and games that might not be seen as so glamorous.

"The players are going to have a presentation put before them detailing what we've got to do in this next stretch before Christmas. Then we play Reading, Bolton, Middlesbrough and Fulham.

"We've had a decent start. We could have realistically got four more points than we have. But there you go.

"We cannot afford to rest on our laurels because we've performed OK against the big boys, and won those games which were vital.

"It's something we've got to eradicate, only turning it on at certain times. We've got to be consistent."

Bruce added: "To be fair, I've been delighted with the players. They perform well, they train well. But they have still got to carry it on.

"It was a hell of a performance we put up against Manchester United, but it's gone. We still didn't get anything from it, so we have to make sure that before this next international break, we get the right result at the weekend, then go again when everyone reports back."