Blues boss Paul Jewell has told central defender Tommy Smith that if he keeps working he'll push his way back into the first team frame. The New Zealand international has been out of the senior side since being sent off within a minute of coming on at half-time in the 7-1 defeat at Peterborough.
Jewell said: "I spoke with Tommy last week. Tommy’s a terrific professional and you forget he’s only 21 as he seems to have been around a while.
"I’ve told him the situation — if he keeps working we’ll see what happens. He needs to play games, his contract comes to an end in the summer, so he needs to push on.
"He works his socks off in training every day, he’s a really good pro and was a bit unfortunate that we played with two left-sided centre-backs early in the season with him and Damien and it looked a bit unbalanced.
"He came on at Peterborough and was sent off after a minute of the second half and hasn’t had too much of a look-in since then.”
The Town manager says Smith and Jack Ainsley, who signed a new 18-month contract yesterday, remain in his thoughts despite their lack of recent senior action: "They’re good professionals and they’ll always be considered because they give their best, but that’s no different to any player. If they give their best, they’ll always be considered.”
Danny Collins’s return to Stoke at the end of his 93-day loan earlier in the week means the Blues will have to make a change at the centre of the defence when they travel to Leicester on Boxing Day.
Smith and Ainsley look outsiders for the role with Ãvar Ingimarsson appearing most likely to partner his old Reading team-mate Ibrahima Sonko as Damien Delaney only recently returned to full training after foot surgery.