CRAIG Gardner today insisted Blues would never, ever throw in the towel during the great battle against relegation.

And the local St Andrew’s hero said the fire in the eyes of his team-mates told him that Blues would not end up in the Championship.

Gardner admitted that if Blues slipped out of the Premier League, winning the Carling Cup would not amount to much.

That’s quite an admission from someone who in particular is well aware what the stunning major trophy victory meant to success-starved fans and the club.

But Gardner knows it should not even have come to this present predicament considering the calibre of player in the Blues squad.

“After beating Bolton, hopefully we can crack on now,” said Gardner.

“We are going to keep fighting, fighting and fighting to the end of the season.

“We know we can’t relax. Of course, we need more wins. Look at the table.

“We’ve gone up to 14th but you see all the teams below us and they are on the same points or there’s one point difference.

“So we need to keep going. We need to get three or four more wins and you never know what might happen. We might be safe then, we might not be.

“We just need to keep fighting until the very end – which we will do.”

Blues go to Blackburn on Saturday, who are a place above them on the same number of points and same goal difference. Some game, then.

Gardner said the attitude at Ewood Park would be like it was against Bolton.

“You can see the fire in the eyes in the changing rooms, the lads want it, the gaffer wants it – we all want it.

“No way are we going to give up. We’re going to carry on until the end of the season and we are still in the Premier League.

“I think the [international] break we had after Wigan helped, definitely.