Lee Bowyer drops Birmingham City team selection hint for Millwall clash

Lee Bowyer will pick an experienced team for the penultimate home match of what has been another disappointing season at Birmingham City. Speaking ahead of Saturday's meeting with play-off hopefuls Millwall, Blues head coach revealed he will take his younger players out of the firing line following the 6-1 defeat at Blackpool.

Blues started Zach Jeacock and teenagers Nico Gordon and Jordan James at Bloomfield Road and conceded three in each half, with four coming from dead-ball situations, as the team slipped to its heaviest defeat since September 2017. Bowyer described that day as his worst in football and in his pre-match press conference demanded a response to ensure the rest of the season doesn't just 'fizzle out'.

"It's really important and that's why I am not going to start the youngsters because after the weekend it's not fair on them to be put in the situation they were put in on the weekend," Bowyer said. "I won't do it to them. Yes we want to develop them in the right way, the senior players have to step up and make sure that doesn't happen at the weekend. We have to finish strongly.

"What I saw at the weekend, it felt like we were a group that was already on holiday, that's not acceptable , training today [Thursday] has been good, not too upbeat obviously but their mentality and their work-rate has been spot on. The reaction I expected to see from the group and I expect it to maintain until we finish the game on Saturday."

Millwall arrive at St Andrew's having taken seven points from the last nine available and just one outside the top six. They do so having beaten Blues 3-1 in December and with Rowett and two other former Blues men, Paul Robinson and Maikel Kieftenbeld, as coach and player respectively.

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