Birmingham City will pick themselves up and regain the winning habit on return to action after the international break, insists defender Curtis Davies.

Blues failed to make it 10 games unbeaten by losing 1-0 at Reading on Sunday.

It was a hard defeat to take as their overall performance was one of their best on an away ground this season.

But it’s the results that count, and Davies says Blues will resume action in a confident frame of mind to get them again.

“There are good signs,” says the centre-half. “We have to take positives from Sunday because it was a good performance and we’ve gone nine games unbeaten,

“But, yes, getting results is what this division is about.

“I have played in a West Brom team that was the best footballing side in the league and we ended up losing the play-off final.

“So you can play the best football all day long but if you’re not going to convert your chances and you’re not going to keep clean sheets then you are obviously going to lose games.

“In this division you have to dig in. Look at our last few games, take Leeds, for instance.

“We had control of the game in terms of having most of the ball, but I wouldn’t say we were comfortable in possession.

“But we nicked the game 1-0 and managed to hold in with a solid defensive performance as a team.

“Then at Reading we played some good stuff. It was an open game, which suited us, I guess, and we didn’t manage to take the chances we had, and they took one of the two they created.

“It was very disappointing.

“If they had created five or six chances in a game you can look at it and say ‘well, by the law of averages they are going to nick one’.

“But they didn’t really have that many.

“They had a lot of the ball, but the actual possession they had they didn’t create many chances.

“It’s one of those things that has happened now.

“We have to dust ourselves off, go into a break and enjoy it as we’re not going to have another one now until well after Christmas.

“What we have to do is come back and try and go on another winning streak, which we’re capable of doing.”

Davies has been one of the mainstays for Chris Hughton’s side.

When he was out injured Pablo stepped in and did a fine job.

And it was only the head injury Pablo sustained at Bruges that enabled Davies to reclaim his spot.

Davies says that sums up the quality across the board in the Blues ranks.

“I think our squad is very good, and when the manager makes changes there’s been no drop-off in quality.

“A lot of squads in this division you might say they’ve got 13, 14 starters as such whereas we’ve got a good 20 players who could come in and you wouldn’t really notice the difference.

“That shows the quality we have got. Some of the lads who started in the Europa League have only made the bench or not made it all in the league.

“The squad is strong and there’s going to be competition for players and I think that’s what’s bred the success we have had lately.

“I think we have always had a similar defence in the league.

“That’s one thing that hasn’t really altered.

“The midfield has been chopped and changed, we’ve had a couple of injuries.

“But the quality we have got in those positions is good, especially for this league.

“We trust everyone who comes in, we know they will do a good job for us, in whichever area of the team.”

That competition is set to increase with the return from injury of Jordon Mutch.

He is back in training again after breaking his ankle in August and Hughton predicts he could be available in around three weeks.

Blues next game is on November 19 at home to Peterborough United, followed by Burnley’s visit three days later.