Steve Bruce will today remind his Birmingham City players of the importance of their match with Leeds United tomorrow night after Saturday's woeful display at Hull.

Bruce was deflated by his side's 2-0 defeat at the KC Stadium at the hands of a side battling against relegation at the other end of the Championship table.

The Birmingham manager said it was one of his side's worst performances of the season. But, rather than rage against his team in public after the final whistle at Hull, he chose to look to the positive and point out that they have an instant opportunity to put things right against Leeds.

If he needed a carrot to dangle in front of the players he need only tell them that victory would take them back to the top of the table.

West Bromwich Albion may occupy that spot but they crawled there on goal difference after drawing at Leicester and seeing Derby continue to stutter at Sunderland.

The match against Leeds was postponed from January when the new pitch at St Andrew's failed to take properly in wet conditions. The Football League have yet to decide how — if at all — Blues will be punished for calling the match off while Leeds chairman Ken Bates was unhappy with the decision at the time and criticised Birmingham in his matchday programme notes.

Bruce knows there are several twists and turns left in what is proving to be a fascinating promotion race in contrast to the predictable Premiership where Blues hope to be playing next season.

But, in the short-term, he will be looking for 'a response' to the Hull defeat in which Blues managed only one shot on target and finished the match with ten men after the sending-off of defender Radhi Jaidi for a professional foul.

Bruce says, though, that his side need to rid themselves of a perceived mental block which the manager believes could be stopping them collecting valuable points against the lesser lights of the Championship.

He said: "We have another big game on Tuesday and I usually get a good response from these players even though I have worked with them for only a short period of time.

"I am looking forward to that but we'll also have to look at our results against the lower sides because it may be a mental thing. Our record is poor against the so-called bottom teams, really poor, and we'd better address it by Tuesday because the Leeds game has a huge significance.

''The top of the table is nip and tuck and we hope to be in the mix in a month's time. It's all there to play for. We still have a chance. The teams are like a concertina at the top, it's unbelievable. It's not gloom and doom, this was a poor performance but now we have to respond."

Bruce pinpointed the cause of the Hull defeat to Blues’ slow start, whereas Hull soon forced the pace — with veteran forward Dean Windass scoring both goals.

The Birmingham manager realises that his side cannot afford to let other sides dominate to that extent. "

It was a very disappointing afternoon. We never recovered from a sloppy start,'' Bruce said.

''Then came the sending-off which I have no complaints about — we all know the rules. But it was probably one of our worst performances away from home this season. It was difficult enough with 11 men, but even more so with ten. But you have to hold your hands up and say well played to Dean Windass."

Bruce dropped Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner to the bench after a run of poor form but the Arsenal loan star came on for the second half. Whether he will be recalled is unclear but Bruce will have been alarmed by his side's lack of firepower in a match in which he used five strikers in the 90 minutes.

>> Hull 2 Blues 0

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