Cameron Jerome has said the competition to lead the attack for Birmingham City is fierce but friendly.
The England Under-21 international striker came off the bench to combine with fellow substitute James McFadden to score the equaliser against Burnley at Turf Moor after starting duo Garry O’Connor and Kevin Phillips had drawn a blank.
But Jerome knows against Crystal Palace at St Andrew’s on Tuesday it could be the other way round and, with Marcus Bent not even able to get on the bench, Blues manager Alex McLeish has a wealth of striking talent.
“Competition for places is healthy for the manager and for the players because it keeps everyone on their toes,” Jerome said. “You can’t rest on your laurels thinking you are going to play every game.
“The gaffer is trying to do the best he can at the moment and fair play to the boys because they haven’t complained once and have just got on with it.
“People like Marcus Bent, who is a quality player but has been missing out in recent weeks. It is just one of those things.
“The spirit is good and there is no bitterness among the strikers. It is just business. There is the front two and then the two on the bench and that is how it is.
“We encourage each other and give each other the confidence to go out and score goals. You have to stick together and that is what we are doing.
“I have had a good run of games. James and myself played four or five games on the spin and Kevin and Garry have played their second game together now.
“The manager is swapping it around to keep everyone fresh and sharp. I thought the lads did well at Burnley without really getting any service.
“It got to the stage where the gaffer wanted to change it and bring on fresh legs and we got the equaliser out of it.”
Meanwhile, McLeish has called for his players to show more consistency after they turned in an indifferent performance at Turf Moor.
He said: “We started the game okay but then made a few bad passes, the centre backs got caught on the ball in dangerous areas, and it gave the Burnley crowd the impetus to roar on their team.
“The Burnley players got energy from that and if they were a wee bit apprehensive in the beginning they came into the game from that point.
“In one versus one situations, my players were too easily beaten and we were sadly lacking in the passing combinations department as oppossed to the performance against Queens Park Rangers. I would like to get a bit of consistency.”
Like so many times this season, McLeish was able to bring on quality substitutions in James McFadden and Cameron Jerome in the second half and the two combined for the equaliser. The Blues manager believes the strength of his squad will prove vital as the campaign progresses.
“We have got the quality in the squad,” he said. “I stayed loyal to the boys who did well for us against QPR two weeks ago. Sometimes I may change it due to tactical reasons even if someone does do well, but I decided to stay loyal to these guys because they worked hard for us. If they think every time they have a good game because someone like McFadden is rested they are going to be out of the team again the next week it would hurt morale. In the second half we proved again that we can react and bounce back.
“I rested James two weeks ago and looking at the players who played up front that day you could think ‘how can he get James back in?’ Maybe he has a chance now after today. There weren’t top-drawer performances today so James is back in the running, as is Cameron.
“It worked out right for us and Cameron could have had a couple. With the right service for Cameron, especially with Burnley pushing on, his pace behind can hurt anyone.”
