Exclusive by John May BBC Sport Online

Southampton striker James Beattie believes it may be too early in his career for him to play for England, even if he wins a call-up from coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Beattie is the Premiership's top scorer - and he has scored his 11 goals in the last eight matches.

His form is in direct contrast to the men who have already won a call-up - Michael Owen is in a five-game drought, and Alan Smith and Emile Heskey are also having a lean time.

It's a nice feeling being top scorer in the Premiership but I won't let that go to my head James Beattie

But Saints boss Gordon Strachan is adamant that it is too early for Beattie play for England, and the striker agreed with him.

After seeing Beattie's brace take his side into seventh place, Strachan was adamant in saying: "I don't think he's ready for an England call-up.

"Sometimes players get called up before they are ready, go into the squad, get over-awed and disappear."

Former England Under-21 international Beattie told Sport Online: "I think the gaffer is right.

"If it happens then I'm not going to turn it down. But if it doesn't happen, I won't let it bother me.

"There's only one person whose opinion matters on this, and that's Mr Eriksson.

"It's a nice feeling being top scorer in the Premiership but I won't let that go to my head," said Beattie, who collected the Barclaycard Premiership player of the month award for November before kick-off.

"All I can do is carry on scoring the goals, and if that's good enough to get me noticed, fair enough."

Beattie had the last laugh on Birmingham keeper Nico Vaesen, who tried to out-psych the Southampton striker with a piece of gamesmanship.

Referee Jeff Winter attempted to calm down the Birmingham protests after he awarded Saints a controversial penalty.

While that was going on, Vaesen walked out to the penalty spot, stood six inches away from Beattie and tried to stare him down in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation.

And when Beattie placed the ball on the spot, Vaesen twice advanced from his goal to try and increase the pressure on Beattie.

But Beattie stroked home his fifth spot kick of the season.

I felt the whole turning point for the game was the referee's decision Birmingham boss Steve Bruce

Beattie said: "It's part of the game, but it didn't work.

"He was trying to out-psych me but I wouldn't look him in the face. I just kept my gaze down and looked at his feet.

"Peter Enckelman tried the same thing at Aston Villa earlier in the season but you just ignore it. You can't blame keepers for trying, I suppose.

"I always know where I'm going to put penalties, but I don't look at either corner to give keepers a clue."

Birmingham boss Steve Bruce had no complaints about the result, but was angry at the penalty decision.

"I'm not trying to make excuses because on the day our performance didn't warrant anything more than a goalless draw," said Bruce.

"But I felt the whole turning point for the game was the referee's decision."