Birmingham City

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish has hinted veteran striker Kevin Phillips will have a bigger role to play during the second half of the season. Phillips has seldom featured during the opening half of the campaign with McLeish opting for the Cameron Jerome-Christian Benitez partnership. As an alternative McLeish has occasionally pushed James McFadden forward from a wide left position into his preferred striking role. But McLeish is set to provide more opportunities to Phillips once he has recovered from a minor groin problem. The 36-year-old has started only one Barclays Premier League game since City were promoted in May. The former Scotland boss said: "During the transfer window, I had the names put forward to me of many players who are in their 30s. I suddenly thought `hang on a minute, I've already got Kevin Phillips here at Birmingham' - and he is still a terrific player with more ability than the names put to me. Because of the way we have played, he hasn't really had a look-in so far this season and, as you would expect, he is disappointed he hasn't featured as much as he would have liked. Any player worth his salt, and Kevin is one of those, wants to play. But there is every chance Kevin will have more game-time and make a contribution. Kevin has been a proven scorer throughout his career, is a proven goalscorer at Premier League level, and he will be eager to take his chance when it comes.'"