Birmingham City boss Lee Clark has admitted that he was delighted with Nikola Zigic's performance in his side's draw with Sheffield Wednesday.

The striker was dropped from the Blues side that lost 4-0 to Watford on Saturday following his poor efforts in training recently.

Clark told reporters: "Nikola's response was fantastic, absolutely brilliant. I spoke with him on Monday morning and the two things I said were, I think he's an extremely talented footballer, and I've got a lot of respect for him as a guy.

"But he has to understand I've got my principles, my standards, my rules. As I said, there was no rant, no shouting, it was me just making a decision I felt was right."

Birmingham are currently 17th in the Championship, four points clear of the relegation zone.

Written by
Simon Sinclair