Lee Bowyer explains reasoning behind Birmingham City man’s absence from Bournemouth clash

Birmingham City head coach Lee Bowyer has revealed that Marc Roberts did not participate in yesterday’s clash with AFC Bournemouth due to the fact that the defender felt a tightness in his hamstring in training.

The 31-year-old was a notable absentee from the Blues’ match-day squad as Bowyer opted to utilise Krystian Pedersen and Maxime Colin in a back-three alongside Teden Mengi.

Birmingham were unable to secure a positive result at the Vitality Stadium last night as the Cherries secured all three points in-front of their supporters.

Ryan Christie opened the scoring for Scott Parker’s side in the 17th minute as he fired past goalkeeper Neil Etheridge.

Dominic Solanke then doubled his side’s advantage by netting his 19th league goal of the season.

Following the break, Jefferson Lerma was shown a red card for a robust challenge on Onel Hernandez who managed to pull a goal back for Birmingham.

Jaidon Anthony effectively ended the Blues’ hopes of securing a point in this fixture as he restored Bournemouth’s two-goal lead.

After this clash, Bowyer shared an update on Roberts.

Speaking to the Birmingham Mail about the defender, the Blues boss said: “Robbo finished training on Monday and said his hamstring was a bit tight – and obviously playing Wednesday-Saturday is a massive risk coming into this game with a tight hamstring.

“We are going to have to see how he is over the next 48 hours and whether he can play Saturday.

“We will know more tomorrow [Today], how it has settled down.”

The Verdict

For Birmingham’s sake, they will be hoping that Roberts is able to make a swift recovery from this issue as he has been an influential figure for the club this season.

In the 28 league games that he has played for Birmingham during the