Rhodes eyes first team shot

HOT shot Jordan Rhodes gave Blues boss Jim Magilton food for thought with a double strike last night.

Derek Davis

HOTshot Jordan Rhodes gave Blues boss Jim Magilton food for thought with a double strike last night.

But while the teenage striker will take confidence from his brace in the 5-0 win at Tiptree he knows he will have to be patient.

Rhodes said: “There are a lot of good strikers at the club, with Pablo, Alan, Jon, Danny and now Kevin who are all such good players.

“I have time on my side. I signed a three-year deal which I'm absolutely thrilled about. I hope to carry on developing and carry on getting goals.

“Scoring two goals against Tiptree lifts my confidence and if I can get anywhere near my total last year I will be happy.”

Rhodes, who netted nearly 50 goals last season, might have completed a first-half hat-trick but was denied by keeper Aaron Benstead and the inside of a post.

He said: “I'm disappointed that I didn't get the hat-trick but the keeper did very well.

“Still I hope to get all the misses out of the way now and score the goals when it really matters.”

Rhodes hopes to be involved in the friendlies against West Brom and West Ham to put him in the frame for a place in the squad for the season opener against Preston.

Although Blues striker Alan Lee was not involved last night, or the night before at Gillingham, the club is denying he is in talks about a move away, with Huddersfield the latest club to be linked.

Magilton is still hoping to bring in Angelos Charisteas from Nuremburg but faces competition.

One club Charisteas won't be joining is Stoke after they held talks with his representatives.

Although Charisteas scored the only goal of the game in Nuremburg's win over the Potters in Austria, the Greek did not do enough to convince Tony Pulis he is worth the £2.5million the German club are demanding, or the £20,000-a week wages he is asking for.