Birmingham City goalkeeper Maik Taylor has backed Liam Ridgewell to put his derby misery behind him following the central defender's unfortunate own goal in the Sunday lunchtime showdown.

Ridgewell, who moved from Aston Villa to St Andrew's in the summer, became the latest player to suffer, in a fixture that always seems to throw up a pantomime villain, when he added his name to a list headed by Peter Enckelman and Thomas Sorensen.

His tenth-minute deflection off Stiliyan Petrov's cross gave the visitors the platform from which they won the game 2-1 and worse was to follow when, with the scores tied, his late header looked to have flashed past Scott Carson to give Birmingham a crucial victory.

Unfortunately for Ridgewell, Gabriel Agbonlahor was on the line to keep the ball out; seconds later, the Erdington-born striker then popped up - ahead of Ridgewell - to score the winner for Villa with two minutes to go.

Having tried to stay out of the limelight in the build-up to the game, the unassuming Ridgewell was suddenly thrust into the spotlight in the most unwelcome of fashions.

Taylor, who has perhaps the best vantage point from which to judge the 23-year-old, claims he will bounce back when the Premiership resumes in just under a fortnight.

"I don't think it will shake his confidence," the Northern Ireland international said.

"He is an experienced lad who has played big games before. These things happen. He'll dust himself down and get on with it and look forward to the next one."

Indeed, Taylor went further and praised Ridgewell for the way in which he has handled the cross-city move.

The Londoner had become increasingly frustrated by the lack of first-team football under Martin O'Neill, as Martin Laursen and Olof Mellberg forged a solid partnership towards the end of last season.

Ridgewell did not play from February onwards and his situation looked even worse when O'Neill bought Zat Knight and borrowed Curtis Davies from West Bromwich Albion.

In August, therefore, he opted to make the £2 million switch to St Andrew's, since when he has silenced any sceptics and picked up the captain's armband along the way.

"He's done exceptionally well for us," Taylor said. "It must have been extremely difficult to come across to Blues but he's settled in really well and given it his all - the fans have appreciated that.

"He's a good talker and a leader on the pitch. To have established himself as captain in such a short space of time says a lot about what sort of character he is."

For his part, Taylor found Sunday's defeat very difficult to swallow.

Having made decent saves from John Carew and Agbonlahor in the first half, the veteran looked set to be on the winning side when Forssell headed home Daniel De Ridder's centre just after the hour.

That prompted Birmingham to pour forward and although they didn't create too many clear-cut chances, Ridgewell's touch on Sebastian Larsson's header might have stolen the points.

"For the own goal, Petrov did well to get round Olivier Kapo and he put in a good ball between me and the centre-halves," he said.

"I don't think he wanted to touch it, in case he put it in - Ridge didn't have any time to react. Of all the people to score an own goal, it was a nightmare for Ridge.

"It's always a disappointment to lose a game, especially a derby when we have given away a goal right at the end.

"We got back in the game and we thought that if it wasn't going to be a draw, we'd be the ones to go on and get a winner.

"We did well to get ourselves back in the game, having started very brightly in the second half, only to have it snatched away."

* Birmingham City striker Cameron Jerome has pulled out of the England Under-21 squad for the Euro 2009 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Portugal.

Jerome is set to undergo surgery on a hernia, while Wolverhampton Wanderers winger Michael Kightly (foot injury) and Preston defender Billy Jones (hamstring) have also not joined up with the squad.

Coach Stuart Pearce has called up Leicester City's Joe Mattock and Richard Stearman while Matt Connolly, the Arsenal defender on loan at Colchester, has also been brought into the squad for the first time.

England, who have a 100 per cent record in qualifying, face Bulgaria on Friday in Milton Keynes before travelling to Portugal.