Birmingham City midfielder Keith Fahey says expectation levels are high this season

Dec 11 2010 by Mark Woodward, Birmingham Mail

KEITH Fahey admits that it’s going to be hard for Blues to match last season’s ninth place finish.

The midfielder was part of the side who were among the favourites to get relegated at the start of the last campaign after earning automatic promotion from the Championship in the 2008-09 season.

But they defied the odds and comfortably stayed in the division with a top-half finish.

This season Blues have lost two first-team regulars from the last campaign.

On-loan goalkeeper Joe Hart returned to parent club Manchester City and Christian Benitez went back to Mexican side Santos Laguna.

As replacements manager Alex McLeish signed Ben Foster from Manchester United, and Nikola Zigic from Valencia – both in big-money deals.

For Fahey, last year was his first taste of Premier League action, and his performances were rewarded with an improved contract.

The 27-year-old Irishman also received his first call-up to the Republic of Ireland squad and has since picked up seven caps, scoring one goal along the way.

He feels Blues need to turn draws into wins to repeat last season’s success.

“I think we’ve done alright, the last five or six games we’ve looked fairly steady anyway.