Blues striker JAY-OK for rise to top – Emile

Emile Heskey, above, believes Jay Stansfield will continue his upwards trajectory in the Championship next season

- ALEX DICKEN

FORMER Blues striker Emile Heskey believes Jay Stansfield could be standing at the cross-roads of his career by the end of next season.

Stansfield scored 24 goals last season in League One and Heskey is tipping him to continue that form in the Championship.

"One hundred per cent, Stansfield can step up," he said. "His confidence now will be sky high after banging in the goals last season. So he'll be putting himself up in there and saying, 'well, why can't I do it against them?'

"That's the key thing when going up, even when going up into the Premier League. If you've done it in the Championship, you've got to back yourself, to have the belief to go and do it up against the Premier League elite as well.

"So he'll be looking at himself and thinking, 'I've done it in League One, I've done it in the cup competitions, so I can do it in the Championship.'