Owusu-Abeyie earns McLeish praise

Owusu-Abeyie is on-loan from Russian side Spartak Moscow

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish feels winger Quincy Owusu-Abeyie was the catalyst in City's 1-0 win at Plymouth on Tuesday.

Lee Carsley's goal kept Blues three points adrift of leaders Wolves, but it was Owusu-Abeyie who caught the eye.

McLeish told BBC WM: "I thought he was very productive, especially second half when he really committed himself.

"He goes at people and shows that aggression when he's running, he really troubled the Plymouth back four."

The victory at Home Park was far from straightforward for the former Rangers manager, who feels too many people assume he has a big squad at his disposal.

"I don't know if we've got a large squad, I've looked at other squads and surprisingly teams below us have got 21 or 22 players," said McLeish.

"Today we had a 16-year-old in the squad and Damien Johnson coming back way ahead of schedule because of necessity."

Injuires have deprived McLeish of the services of James McFadden, Garry O'Connor, Stephen Kelly, Gary McSheffrey and Liam Ridgewell in recent weeks, but the Blues boss is hoping there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

"I expect Ridgewell to be out of his sick-bed over the next couple of days after a really bad virus," he said.

"He's not eaten since last Wednesday, we hope he's got enough strength to get back in and be competing for a place."

Seb Larsson and David Murphy also missed out at Plymouth with slight groin strains, but McLeish is optimistic they will be back in contention for Saturday's trip to Preston.