Djimi Traore in line for first Birmingham City start against Preston

Apr 22 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail

“I said to Djimi a couple of weeks ago – and it’s difficult to talk to players when they are not playing because they think you’re patronising them – that he must have felt like he wanted to be back at Portsmouth.

“He said ‘ahh, I will just keep training away and do my best’. He’s had a bit of bad luck with injuries on the training ground and others have been doing well, so he hasn’t had much of a look in. But his attitude has been absolutely terrific.

“He came in as a substitute at a difficult time in the game on Saturday [for Queudrue after 85 minutes] but acquitted himself well and helped make sure we got what was a massive victory.”

Another option for McLeish is to recall Martin Taylor to centre-half and play Queudrue in his more natural left-back berth.

But the fact that McLeish overlooked Taylor after Ridgewell’s injury means that would be a surprise.

On Murphy, McLeish commented: “There was a three-man collision towards the end of the game that also included Djimi and David split his kneecap.

“He’s going to get it pinned and we believe he could be back for the start of pre-season.”