Morrison carried off on Blues debut

Stoke 0 Birmingham 2

Stoke 0 Birmingham 2

Record signing Clinton Morrison gave Birmingham a headache as he was carried off on a stretcher in his first appearance for the Blues.

The Republic of Ireland striker, a £4.25 million capture from Cyrstal Palace earlier this week, came on as a second half substitute just past the hour mark at the Britannia Stadium.

But just six minutes later he left the action with a suspected hamstring injury after stretching for the ball - joining Martin Grainger as an injury casualty.

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However, his relieved manager Steve Bruce announced after the match that the injury was not believed to be too serious.

"We had him stretchered off as a precaution because we feared he may have damaged his hamstring," explained Buruce. "Fortunately that does not appear to be the case and it was just a dead leg. He should be fit to return to training Monday or Tuesday."

Birmingham ran out handy winners of the friendly. Jeff Kenna crossed for Tommy Mooney to open the scoring after 16 minutes and just past the hour mark Mooney turned provider when he centred for Stan Lazaridis, who scored with a left-foot shot.

Steve Bruce's Blues have just one more friendly - against Deportivo Alaves next Saturday - before kicking off the new season at Arsenal on August 18th.