Blues boss Paul Lambert has confirmed a right-back is among his January targets with Jordan Spence currently the only right-sided full-back at the club, the Town manager seeing summer signing Janoi Donacien as a central defender.
Spence, 28, an ever-present under the new boss, has come under fire from some fans for costly errors in recent games but Lambert praised the former West Ham trainee for keeping going despite those setbacks.
"I soon as I came into the club I recognised the positions that need strengthening and right-back was one of them," he said.
"Jordan was the only right-back and, to be fair to the lad, he kept on putting himself forward and forward.
"Mistakes happen in games, but I’ll never, ever blame anybody for an honest mistake, it’s just one of those things that happens, it seems be falling on him every time but give him his due, he kept on coming out and coming out and kept on going.
"So there’s a big compliment on that because sometimes it can make you really heavy if you get a lot of criticism but he’s kept on going.”
Regarding Donacien, 25, who was a young player under Lambert at Aston Villa where he was an unused sub for the first team on two occasions, he has said before he sees him as a central defender rather than a full-back, the role he played at Accrington last season and where he played most of his Town games under Paul Hurst.
Asked whether the St Lucian, whose £750,000 switch from Stanley was finally confirmed last week, is current fourth in line at the heart of the defence, he responded: "I don’t see anybody as first, second, third or fourth. I pick two lads to play together that I think is quite strong.
"The way I play football, I want to play football. I’ve always seen Janoi as a centre-half, some people might beg to differ but in my opinion he’s a centre-half, but with Luke Chambers and Matthew Pennington playing really well, Toto Nsiala did really well [at Accrington] and there’s the possibility of James Collins coming in, it becomes difficult.
"But that’s the nature of the game. I have to try and get a team that can win games and plus can entertain supporters.
"It’s difficult, I’ve had a chat with Janoi and spoke to him regarding what I thought. It’s tough when you don’t play every single week, there’s no end product to it, but I have to pick a team that I think is right.
"He understands that, he’s been really good training-wise, I don’t have a problem there but I understand how tough it is and he’ll probably want to play some games.”