FOOTBALL : Lee Bowyer insisted his qualities have never waned and that he has proved the doubters wrong after becoming Birmingham’s goal-scoring hero for the second successive match.
Lee Bowyer insisted his qualities have never waned and that he has proved the doubters wrong after becoming Birmingham’s goal-scoring hero for the second successive match.
The 32-year-old followed up his winner against Fulham with the decisive strike against Wolves at Molineux to move Blues into 11th spot in the Barclays Premier League.
The former England midfielder said: “Goal-scoring and getting up the pitch has never gone. People might have forgotten about it but, when you play for different people, they want you to do different things. The manager here has asked me to get up and down (the pitch) and I am nicking the odd goal. In the the last two games fortunately it has got us six points.”
There were question marks in some quarters about the wisdom of Blues boss Alex McLeish bringing Bowyer to City from West Ham in January, firstly on loan before he made the move permanent in the summer.
But Bowyer, who initially made his reputation at Charlton and Leeds, has showed his pedigree in helping Birmingham gain promotion and he is their top-scorer with five goals during the current campaign.
He added: “When I came here people said I am 32 and ‘maybe his legs have gone’ but my stats are maybe the best in our side. My fitness levels are very high.
“Leeds was a long time ago but I am still getting box to box. I have never doubted it. It is everyone else that has doubted it.”
McLeish, who was celebrating his second anniversary since becoming Blues boss, said: “Lee has confounded his critics. He helped us to promotion last season and his return of five goals this season is fantastic. It is like the Bowyer of old.
“When I looked to bring in midfield players, David Sullivan (previous club owner) was always pretty big on ‘he doesn’t get any goals’ when I flagged up a midfielder to him.
“When you sign someone like Bowyer you can say ‘Bowyer does get goals’ and his five so far this season is an incredible return.”
