Blues boss Paul Jewell says he was always planning to use Kieron Dyer from the bench at Burnley. The on-loan West Ham man, who has one game remaining of his one-month spell, came on as a 79th minute sub as the Blues defeated the Clarets 2-1 at Turf Moor on Saturday.
The former England man missed the Scunthorpe game a fortnight ago with a thigh problem and the Town manager decided to stick with the side that won that match, aside from suspended midfielder Lee Martin: "He was never going to start, he was always going to be on the bench.
"He trained on Thursday and Friday but I thought the team that I started with would be our best bet - we got a decent result against Scunthorpe. It’s well known that he’s missed a lot of training and that we have to be careful with him."
As for Dyer’s future beyond Saturday’s home game with Crystal Palace, Jewell says no decisions have yet been made: "We’ll speak about that next week.”
The Blues boss also expects news on the situations of some of the out of contract players later this week.
Dyer's terms at West Ham are up at the end of the season and the midfielder has hinted that he could be interested in a longer term return to his home town club in the summer.