Birmingham City: Maik Taylor calls on colleague to prove their credentials
Birmingham City goalkeeper Maik Taylor may be a veteran of three promotion-winning campaigns from English football’s second tier but even he is unable to second guess the outcome of this season’s Championship.
The 37-year-old has been able to temporarily forget about what he calls an ‘incredible league’ while away on international duty with Northern Ireland. The vastly-experienced stopper played the entirety of Saturday’s 3-2 World Cup qualifier over Poland and will no doubt be involved in his adopted nation’s important group three fixture against Slovenia tomorrow evening.
However, after that, he will be back between the sticks for Birmingham to focus on the home stretch of what has already been an enthralling Championship season.
While Birmingham, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Reading have been firmly in the hunt for automatic promotion all season, it would be foolish to ignore the four clubs that sit below them.
Yet Taylor insists that if ever there was a time for Birmingham to prove that they are worthy holders of their ‘big-hitters’ tag, then that time is now.
“It’s just an incredible league the way it’s panning out at the minute. We said before the season started that there are no easy games but even more so now,” said Taylor.
“You play against teams that you are expected to get a result against but there is so much to play for, for every team, which makes things extremely difficult.
“We’ve found that we are one of the so-called ‘big boys’ so everyone raises their levels against us but we’re not the only ones, Wolves and Reading are experiencing that as well. Once you are at the top of the league and viewed as one of the big-hitters then it’s almost like there is no pressure on the teams playing against us because no one’s expecting them to get anything.
