Unsung hero Alex giving the boss one less thing to worry about

BRIGHT Osayi-Samuel returned to the Birmingham City starting XI for the first time in seven matches in Monday night's 2-1 win over Watford. It proved to be a tough evening.

- By BRIAN DICK

To be fair to the 27-year-old having done reasonably well at the start of the season, the last two months have been disrupted by injuries and a lack of opportunities and seamlessly slotting in for Blues' best player of recent weeks, Tomoki Iwata, was not easy against two of the Hornets' better players on the night, Othmane Maamma and Marc Bola.

He really could have done without Giorgi Chakvetadze coming on and compounding the issue for his final quarter of an hour on the field.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pitch, Alex Cochrane unfussily beavered away, keeping the left of the defence battened down without so much as an anxious moment. It's been that way for several weeks.