McLeish praise for Bent

Blues boss pleased with Bent and believes there is more to come

By Richard Bailey   Last updated: 24th November 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

McLeish praise for Bent

Bent: McLeish praise

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Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish praised striker Marcus Bent after he scored his first goal for the club.

Bent was on target as Birmingham beat Swansea City 3-2 to keep in touch with Wolves at the top of the Championship.

The 30-year-old faces stiff competition for a place in the City starting line-up with fellow strikers Cameron Jerome, Kevin Phillips, Garry O'Connor, James McFadden and loan signing Quincy Owusu-Abeyie all vying for places.

Bent has had to bide his time since joining the Blues in July 2008 due to the vast amount of options available to McLeish in the striking department.

But the former Charlton forward has benefited from O'Connor's injury as he has started the last three games and McLeish has been pleased with his performances.

Encouraged

He told the Birmingham Mail: "I was pleased with Marcus, getting his first goal. He lost his marker to head us level at a time when Swansea were playing well.

"He led the line well. He put himself about, messed the defenders about and that's what we expect of Benty, and I expect more as well.

"He's getting better with every game, but there's more to come from him."

Bent also earned praise from his captain Lee Carsley and the skipper knows what he is all about after their time together at Everton.

He added: "He's a great team player, Benty, he does a lot of work. He goes up for a lot of headers and tries to bring people into play.

"A lot of that goes unnoticed, but I've played with him for a few years now and you know exactly what you're going to get off him.

"He's a confidence player as well, so that goal's going to do him a lot of good."