Last Updated: Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:49
Chris Hughton is expecting a big scrap when he takes sixth-placed Birmingham to bottom club Doncaster Rovers tonight.
The Blues boss is determined to consolidate his team's place in the Championship play-off zone after a better than expected promotion push.
Hughton was hit with a host of financial problems when he arrived back in the summer from Newcastle and despite seeing a massive sell-off of players, he has rebuilt his squad and headed up the Championship in double quick time.
And ahead of the match against Rovers he said: "Fortunately I had time to go out and get new players. The bigger problem may have been that we were in the Europa Cup and as a result of that we have been playing catch-up most of the season.
"But had you told me we would be in this position with eight games to go I would have been very happy indeed.
"Tonight's game is incredibly important and the fact that Rovers are bottom of the table makes it even more difficult because they are scrapping for every point," Hughton told Deadcerts.
Doncaster are set to be without defensive duo Shelton Martis (groin) and Pascal Chimbonda (hamstring).
Skipper Brian Stock (groin) and fellow midfielder Martin Woods (knee) are likely to miss out, while full-back Tommy Spurr (broken hand) is definitely absent.
Birmingham welcome back David Murphy from suspension but Stephen Carr (knee) and Jonathan Spector (thigh) are out.
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