Blues boss Paul Lambert believes there’s more to come from 10-goal striker James Norwood, who faces his former club Tranmere at Prenton Park on Saturday.
Norwood, 29, joined Town on a free transfer after leaving Rovers in the summer returning to League One in which he made a handful of appearances for Exeter City almost a decade ago.
Much of the intervening time was played in non-league before he and Rovers won promotion to League Two in 2017/18 and he enjoyed a rampant campaign last season, netting 32 times in all competitions.
Looking at Norwood’s 2019/20 so far, Lambert said: "I thought he started the season incredibly well and then he got his injury [a groin nerve problem which required surgery] and I think that put him back. I think he’s had a little dip up and down since that time.
"I think the injury’s certainly hindered him, but overall I think he’s done well. I think there’s a lot more to come from him.
"People do forget that he’s come from League Two, so the jump for him will be big. And the jump to the club, no disrespect to Tranmere, will be big, there’s a different pressure, he’s playing in front of 20-odd thousand people at home games, so it’s different for him. But sometimes people take time to adapt.
"So a summary of his season overall is that I think he’s done well but that I think there’s a lot more to come for him.”
Lambert says the striker, who was born in Eastbourne, has a tendency to be too hard on himself.
"I think he overthinks his game, he gets annoyed with a lot of things he shouldn’t get annoyed with,” he added.
"He should have had more goals than he actually has. But there are aspects of his game that he has to work on to get to the top level but when he’s playing at the top of his game he’s a handful, that’s for sure.”
Norwood still retains close links with Tranmere but Lambert says he’ll have to put them to one side at Prenton Park on Saturday.
"You don’t have time for sentimental, emotional ties,” he said. "He knows that he’s going back up to his old club, he’ll know that scenario but he’s got to forget all that stuff, that was in the past. The past was great, you respect it but you can never dwell on it and he’s got to go and got to have a mindset that we’ve got to win.”