Jonathan to stay Grounded

Jonathan Grounds will be given a chance to cement his place in the Blues starting eleven at Fulham tomorrow afternoon after Gary Rowett confirmed that loanee Rhoys Wiggins will miss the game.

Grounds has been an ever present since signing from Oldham Athletic in June 2014, but has benefitted from the lack of competition for his place at left back.

Wiggins was drafted in on loan from Bournemouth last week and will keep Grounds on his toes. But he is still fighting to be match fit and will miss the trip to Craven Cottage tomorrow and possibly the game at Reading on Tuesday evening.

Last time out, Grounds put in unarguably his best performance in a Blues shirt during the 3-0 win over Norwich City at St Andrews and by rights, deserves to keep his place. Whatever happens from now on, Rowett’s squad will feel the gains of having a proper replacement ready to go, if need be.

28 year-old Grounds has just surpassed a century of appearances for Blues and has, more often than not, proved to be decent performer. His free transfer from Oldham certainly represents a good piece of business  by former manager Lee Clark.

But on occasions, Grounds has given his critics justifiable reason to call for his axing with a handful of errors.

It’s now up to the player to show he is capable of more performances of the Norwich ilk. And it’s up to him to keep Wiggins kicking his heels.