SKIPPER Paul Robinson is fighting for a contract extension as he tries to cure Birmingham’s Blues.
The veteran left-back reached the 750-game milestone as Gianfranco Zola’s side ground out a 2-1 win over bitter rivals Wolves despite his 53rd-minute red card.
And Robinson, 38, insists he has another year left in the legs to aid Italian chief Zola’s bid to restore top-flight football to the city after a six-year gap.
He said: “Surprisingly, I feel really good. I tend to look after myself quite well and never miss a day’s training.
“Even though I am playing more regularly, I’ve had no aches, no knocks or anything like that.
“Hopefully I’ll get another year – the club have put talks on hold with most of the players who are out of contract due to our position. But that’s not important to me at the moment the important thing is trying to move Birmingham forward.
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“We’ll never give up on play-offs but the teams above us keep winning so it’s difficult to catch them this season.
“We know we could be doing better as a club. The owners set high standards with the new manager so we know we need to be improving.
“Hopefully we’ll finish the season on a high with a few more wins. And going into next season we’ll be looking to get promoted with the manager building his own team ready to fly out the box.”
Robinson has successfully appealed his sending off – which came after an off-the-ball incident with Wolves striker Jon Dadi Bodvarsson – which would see him miss this week’s showdown with promotion-chasing Leeds.
The Blues have got off to a stuttering start to life under Zola – winning just two of 15 games since he replaced Gary Rowett in December.
But after the derby win on live Sky broke a Friday night duck stretching back to 2015, Robinson is hoping for another TV-worthy display against Garry Monk’s side.
He added: “Unfortunately for us under the new manager, we haven’t been getting the results that we’d like.
“But we’ve improved as a group on the training pitch and in games we’ve had spells where we’ve dominated but we’ve just not had that luck and we’ve made silly mistakes.
“That’s been out downfall, but the boys have been working extremely hard on the training pitch – putting in longer hours to get things right.
“Every time we’d play on a Friday we’d lose but after last week’s result it’s turned. Hopefully we can kick on now.”
72 children’s football clubs across England and Wales have been rewarded with new strips thanks to the national Kit for Kids competition by Wickes, the Official DIY Partner of the EFL
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