Chris Davies confirms two fresh injuries for Birmingham City after Newcastle United lost

Simon

Birmingham City’s head coach provides injury updates for Marc Leonard and Taylor Gardner-Hickman.

Chris Davies has confirmed Marc Leonard and Taylor Gardner-Hickman will miss Tuesday’s League One clash with Cambridge United after sustaining injuries.

Leonard was withdrawn with what looked like a potentially serious injury during Blues’ 3-2 FA Cup fourth round defeat to Newcastle United on Saturday evening. The former Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder was caught just below the knee by the studs of Newcastle’s Lewis Miley and was taken off on a stretcher with a deep cut.

It was such a shame to see Leonard’s game end prematurely as he played excellently – especially in the first half – with some superb deliveries swung into the box from set pieces. It’s been tough for Leonard to gain consistent minutes this season with Tomoki Iwata and Paik Seung-ho such an imperious duo but he’s stepped up in the latter’s injury absence. Leonard will be hoping he won’t have to spend a period on the sidelines himself.

Gardner-Hickman, meanwhile, wasn’t even named in the matchday squad at St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park. Davies, when asked about Leonard’s issue in the post-match press conference, also revealed that versatile midfielder Gardner-Hickman suffered a knock in training and wasn’t worth risking.

“It was a bad gash to the knee,” Davies said of Leonard. “I don’t think there’s any malice there from the opposition player, he’s kind of jumped over and caught him on his knee. Whether there’s any other issue I’m not sure, but it was a deep gash to the knee. Taylor has got a knock and he’s doubtful for Tuesday, it will take a week or two I think.”

Chris Davies ‘pleasantly surprised’ by Birmingham players

Blues losing an important player through an unpleasant injury was far from ideal but the night was otherwise a huge success. Going toe-to-toe for nearly 90 minutes against a team challenging for a Premier League top-four spot is no mean feat for a Championship side, let alone a club in League One.

Birmingham World asked Davies how proud he was of his players’ physical efforts as they pressed relentlessly all night and didn’t falter until the very end. The manager smiled and said: “I suppose I was pleasantly surprised with how they’ve coped in a game such as this. I think physically you have to understand we don’t have games like that.

“When I was at Celtic, we played in the SPL and then in the Champions League and it was a big change in the dynamic of the game physically for the players. Obviously here it was similar in the sense that we’re normally controlling with 60, 70 per cent possession, in games it’s normally more stop-start with set pieces.

“I wasn’t sure how they’d cope physically. It was almost like we’re going to go and press, but we have to think tactically about our moments to press. The boys had the appetite, the hunger and energy were there.

“It was very good, I was really impressed physically with how they coped with it. Obviously, at the end they were jaded but some of the Newcastle players were too,” Davies said.

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