Steve Bruce might be concerned about Birmingham's defensive record - they have conceded eight goals in their last four matches - but he has ruled out another move for Celtic's Bobo Balde in January.

The 29-year-old Guinean international held initial talks with Bruce last January at the club's Wast Hills training base but decided to stay in Glasgow.

Birmingham revived their interest once again during the summer but Balde again repelled their advances.

Reports last weekend suggested that Bruce was preparing to entice the giant African to the Premiership for a third occasion.

Bruce lamented his side's defending after Darren Bent's free header ensured their worst Premiership start at St Andrew's continued. Nevertheless, he said that he would not be making a third attempt to bolster his defensive ranks with Balde.

"I saw a story linking me with Balde again and that's just not true," Bruce said."I am definitely not going back in for Balde."

With Balde out of the equation, Bruce is still leaving the door open for the likes of Martin Taylor.

The £1.25m signing from Blackburn has been used sparingly since his arrival in January 2004 and hasn't started a first-team fixture since their defeat at Manchester United in February.

But there might be light at the end of the tunnel for the 25-year-old, as Bruce assured him of his importance to the squad by saying he had rebuffed advances from other clubs.

"I have had a couple of enquiries to take Martin Taylor out on loan but he won't be going anywhere," Bruce said. "We have only 19 outfield players so, unless it is one of the younger lads, I am not in a position to let anyone go out on loan at the moment.

" Martin has waited patiently because the performances of Matt Upson and Kenny Cunningham over the years have been fantastic. He has had to bide his time but it would be wrong of me not to give him his chance when it arises."

That might be sooner than he thinks as defensive travails have affected Birmingham this season and Bruce relied on his much-loved pro-Zone statistics to back up his case.

Their second-half dominance saw them deliver a quite incredible 21 crosses into Charlton's danger zone while the visitors had only two efforts on target all afternoon, one of which was the crucial header from Bent.

"It was a bad goal to give away at our level," Bruce said. "It was a bad individual goal and you can't legislate for that.

"We have had 21 crosses in the second half and struggled to score while they have put a long, looping ball into our box and he has headed it in unchallenged inside the sixyard area."

However, of paramount importance to Bruce are the results of scans to Mario Melchiot and Emile Heskey, which he expects to receive today. Heskey limped off after only ten minutes with an ankle injury while Melchiot was replaced at half time with knee problems.

Bruce will be hoping the injury curse that has ruled out Mehdi Nafti for the remainder of the campaign doesn't strike again. An untimely injury to Heskey would be about as popular at St Andrew's as light meters are in Australia, as Bruce confessed. He said: "We are awaiting the results of scans for both Emile and Mario but, touch wood, we don't think it is too serious.

"Emile is one of our best players and we have effectively been without him for three home games now. When he is in the team, you have seen a difference.

"Of course he is a big loss but we have to be big enough as a squad to deal with it because these things happen in football.

"We need a bit of luck with our forwards, as we know we are a little bit light in that department, but you can only go with what you have got. We have certainly got enough in terms of quality and I didn't see anything wrong in the second half that a bit of luck wouldn't change.

"We are hugely disappointed with the result and it was the worst possible time to play Charlton. But the longer the game went on, we played as well as we have done all season.

"I am staying in a positive frame of mind and hoping that we can beat Portsmouth on Saturday. If we can play like we did in the second half against Charlton and for sustained periods then we will be fine."