Birmingham City missed out on the chance to put some welcome breathing space between themselves and the Championship relegation zone on Tuesday night.
Blues fell to a 1-0 defeat to Middlesbrough at St Andrew’s, with their former loanee Riley McGree netting the only goal of the game.
As a result, the Midlands club have now taken just one point from five games since manager Tony Mowbray temporarily stepped back from his role for managerial reasons.
Because of that run, Birmingham City remain 21st in the Championship table, just a point clear of the bottom three. This match had been a game in hand on the rest of the clubs around them in the relegation battle.
That looks as though it may set the club up for a tense end to the season. Now, goalkeeper John Ruddy has made it clear that he feels some of his teammates need to step up to keep the club out of trouble.
John Ruddy takes aim at Birmingham City teammates
It was a frustrating night for Blues against Middlesbrough. While they did have plenty of long spells of pressure, the hosts rarely looked like finding an equaliser.
Meanwhile, it was a Birmingham City error that gave possession away, immediately before McGree opened the scoring.
As a result, it appears Ruddy feels as though some players can give more to the club, in the fight to stay in the Championship.
Speaking about the position Blues find themselves in, the 37-year-old told The Birmingham Mail:
“But when things are tough, you need everybody to stand up and be counted and I think we’re probably at the point, at this moment in time, where we’re carrying a few too many during the games.
“The quality isn’t quite there but we still need to stay together and keep fighting together because it’s going to take every single player that’s available, alongside the management team, to get us out of this.
“We need to remain together and try and stay as positive as we can. No excuses moving forward, we need to make sure we’re ironing out mistakes.”
Next up for Birmingham City is a clash with managerless Watford at St Andrew’s on Saturday afternoon.
Blues must listen to John Ruddy message
Judging by the comments Ruddy has made here, there will be a few players in that dressing room who may be aware of their responsibilities in the coming weeks.
The goalkeeper is not one who will shy away from leadership, and so it would be no surprise if he has given this message directly to some of his fellow Birmingham City players as well.
It will therefore be interesting to see if there is a response to this on Saturday afternoon.
Indeed, with Watford out of form and without a manager, that does feel like an opportunity that Blues simply have to take.
For now though, the underwhelming performance produced by Birmingham City against Middlesbrough, means you can understand why Ruddy is making this point with his comments.
Those around St Andrew’s, will obviously hope they are taken on board in the coming weeks.