BLUES boss Jim Magilton will today assess the fitness of his players before deciding how to line-up against Derby County.

Derek Davis

BLUES boss Jim Magilton will today assess the fitness of his players before deciding how to line-up against Derby County.

Hamstrung David Wright was close to getting the go-ahead against Birmingham and has a chance to play at Pride Park tomorrow, possibly replacing Moritz Volz who gave away a penalty and was booked in the 1-0 defeat.

Danny Haynes twisted an ankle midway through the first half and was replaced by Jon Walters who should keep his place in midfield rather than right back where he finished in place of Volz.

Magilton said: “We have one or two lads who are carrying knocks but we will wait and see and have a look on the day.

“I can see a lot of things working at Pride Park but what we have to do is look at the body count and then look at what shape we go.

“Against Birmingham, our midfield three looked good but at times were sloppy in possession.

“We gifted them ball and they gave it back to us and we gave it back again so we really needed someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck.

“Iván provided a bit of class for us and cruised through the game. He is tired but should be okay.”

A James McFadden penalty consigned Ipswich to their second consecutive home defeat as Magilton's mid-table Ipswich have now gone to one win in seven games.

Magilton said: “For 30 minutes we were very good but we lacked a little quality around the box.

“It was a soft penalty but it looks like he has taken his eye of the ball and it has hit him on the hand and the referee deemed it a pretty soft penalty.

“Birmingham are a real Premiership outfit with a lot of Premier League players and did a real professional job and saw the game out.

“We are the home side and should do more but we didn't and we lacked the cutting edge.”

City boss Alex Mcleish admitted it was not a vintage display but was happy with three points and a clean sheet.

McLeish said: “It was not a great game but we did enough. We protected the lead in the second half although I felt we could have shown a bit more composure and picked Ipswich off in the second half.

“The players showed a lot of character because after back to back defeats they have been a bit edgy and Ipswich is not an easy place to come to as their home record is not too bad.”

The penalty was the first awarded to Birmingham this season and James McFadden sent Richard Wright the wrong way to score the winner.

McLeish said: “It has been a long time coming. It was a good finish by James.”