Blues boss Paul Jewell says skipper Grant Leadbitter is working hard to win back his place in the side but at the moment Lee Bowyer and Keith Andrews are his preferred pair in the centre of midfield. Leadbitter is fit again after his groin injury but didn’t make the 16 for Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Derby.
Jewell said: "Grant’s a terrific professional, he trains to the best of his ability every day and that’s what I want everyone to do, which I think they all do, but you can only pick five subs.
"At the moment, I think Lee Bowyer and Keith Andrews have done very well in the middle of the park in the last two games. Grant has been unfortunate not to get on the bench, but you can only name five subs.”
The Liverpudlian says those in Leadbitter's position can win themselves a place in the matchday squad with performances in training: "Sometimes you get out of the team and the team wins two games, you can change it but I thought they were excellent against Barnsley in the second half, so I kept the same team and the same subs, other than changing Jay Emmanuel-Thomas for Nathan Ellington.
"JET played himself in rather than Duke playing himself out. JET was exceptional in training in the last couple of days of last week and played himself in.
"Duke didn’t do anything wrong, but sometimes a manager can make a decision on what he sees in training or just on a gut feeling and I thought he did well for us when he came on on Saturday.”
Leadbitter is amongst the many players whose deals are up at the end of the season but, despite his agent having called Jewell on his way into Thursday’s press conference, the Town boss says there have been no developments regarding new terms for the £2.65 million summer 2009 signing from Sunderland: "Grant, Jason, Carlos, Tommy Smith, there’s a load of people out of contract, they’re just getting their heads down and seeing what happens.”