Sunday 3 May 2015 19:34, UK
Birmingham manager Gary Rowett confirmed his desire to keep match-winner Robert Tesche next season after the on-loan Nottingham Forest midfielder settled a low-grade clash at Bolton on the final day of the Sky Bet Championship season.
The 27-year-old German netted the only goal after 43 minutes to give the Blues a deserved 1-0 win at the Macron Stadium.
"All the players we have brought in we have done so with an eye to seeing if something can happen next season," Rowett said.
"A lot of those things are out of our hands but I am pretty sure all the loan players like Tesche, Diego Fabbrini, Rob Kiernan and Lloyd Dyer all would like to stay.
"They have enjoyed being part of something that is very positive and being part of a winning team.
"Whether we get an opportunity to bring him to the club might be out of my hands. But we would like to do that. In Robert Tesche's case, he is a quality player."
Rowett's side was good value for victory over a team that were 1-0 winners at St Andrew's in Neil Lennon's first match in charge last October.
"The players have got to be given great credit for the way they moved the ball and looked a very controlled team," Rowett added.
"The game suited us because Bolton tried to play through us because they have good technical players in the middle of the park.
"It was about blocking up that area, breaking wide and counter attacking. With a bit more composure and better timing in the final third we could have scored one or two more with our breakaways.
"I thought we showed excellent desire to keep going and attack. This team has been mid table for two months now but I never once questioned desire to ever go on and win the game.
"We also had just under 4000 of our fans here and as a player you can't help be inspired by that and feel responsible to go and put in a performance."
Bolton boss Lennon said: "We were too tippy-tappy and looked too lightweight. We lacked any kind of punch in the final third even though we had plenty of the ball.
"Birmingham scored with one of their only shots on target and we weren't good enough to break them down.
"Maybe it was symptomatic of our season: we showed a bit of promise but in the end fizzled out.
"We have a mountain of work to do in terms of where we want to take the club. We have known that all along.
"It was important to get over the line in terms of staying up. We looked okay in November and December, but the volumes of injuries after that hit us really hard."
