Birmingham City: Alex McLeish's delight at James McFadden return
ALEX McLeish has admitted that he was delighted to see James McFadden back on the pitch doing his thing for Blues.
McFadden made his first appearance since December 28 as a half-time substitute in the Wolves match.
Waylaid by knee surgery, McFadden is now in tip-top shape, said his manager.
“It’s immense to have him again. Although we were down to 10 men and he had to be more disciplined – which he was – you saw signs of what he can do.
“When he wriggled out of that challenge and made his way down the touchline we could have gone 3-0 up. That was typical James, the sort of thing only he can engineer from nothing.
“We know he’s still a bit short of match fitness, but he has that freshness and looks like he did earlier in the season before his problems with injury and illness.”
■ Kemy Agustien made his comeback from groin surgery in a 1-0 reserves defeat by Villa at Bodymoor Heath.
Agustien, sidelined since the start of the New Year, played for an hour in the private friendly, which was settled by a Nathan Delfouneso goal.
Scott Sinclair, Martin Taylor, Carlos Costly and Robin Shroot also got run-outs, plus Argentinian Facundo de Martis, who Blues are looking at during a trial period.
Djimi Traore was due to figure but an injury niggle halted his participation.
