Lee Bowyer issues Roberts and Mengi update as Birmingham City lose to Bournemouth

Birmingham City have lost two more defenders to the hamstring curse that has blighted the squad this season.

Marc Roberts pulled up after training at the start of the week and Teden Mengi was taken off midway through the second half of Wednesday night’s loss to Bournemouth.

With George Friend also sidelined with a calf strain - and not due back for another three weeks - Blues were forced to field two full back at centre half.

“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,” said head coach Lee Bowyer.

“We are going to have to see how he is over the next 48 hours how he is and whether he can play Saturday. We will know more tomorrow, how it has settled down.

“He recovered from doing it at Blackburn but this is the problem when you only have five defenders in the building and then you are constantly asking the same ones to go again, again, again. They are not machines, they are human beings.

“Young Teds is a 19-year-old kid and he has just felt his hamstring there as well - and he’s a young lad. This division is ruthless, it asks a lot of questions of you physically and you need the squad to cope with that.”

Despite the injury crisis Bowyer once again played down the prospect of bringing in a free agent.

“The problem you have got is there are people who are out there but some haven’t kicked a ball since February - as in last February - and others August.

“By the time we get them fit George Friend will be back so you are just - for me - wasting money.

"Unless you bring in someone that’s been released in January - and if you have been released in January, something is wrong. Unfortunately