What a difference a couple of weeks make in football.

A ten match unbeaten run suddenly becomes three league matches without a win following defeats at Brighton and last week at home to Yeovil.

In an exclusive interview for Made in Brum and Sports- Radio Birmingham, Birmingham City captain Paul Robinson said he is still confident of the side staying up and building on this season in the future.

“I don’t think looking to stay up every year is something a club like this should be looking at. We’re a big club and as soon as this issue with what’s going on outside of our control is dealt with the club can move forward.

“The important thing this year is that we stay up, push teams as much as we can, which we are doing, but we are letting ourselves down in certain games which we know we can improve on.

“There is no doubt in my mind that this club will not get relegated. It’s too big, it’s too strong and we’ve got a squad of quality players to do that. Once new owners come in or whatever happens is when we can push forward and look towards Premiership football.”

The 2-0 defeat to Yeovil extends Blues poor home form to eight games, stretching back to October 1^st since their last victoryat St. Andrews.

Although the side weren’t happy with the result, Robinson believes the boys can turn their fortunes in the next few games.

“We’re just not doing enough as what we are away from home. It’s simple really, we are just not putting the ball in the back of the net, committing players forward and making it hard for ourselves. It’s something we’ve got to look at and change.”

“It was a very quiet dressing room after the game. A lot of lads with their heads down disappointed with ourselves and looking forward to bouncing back as soon as possible.

The bad run in form has coincided with the departures of Dan Burn and Jesse Lingard as well as injuries to the likes of Tom Adeyemi and Kyle Bartley and the defender feels this could be one of the reasons behind it, especially with Lee Clark struggling to bring in fresh faces in the transfer market.

“They are big losses. Obviously Dan (Burn) and Jesse (Lingard) are good young players who we thought we had for the whole season to help them progress and improve, but unlucky for us they’ve been recalled back by their teams.

“It’s been tough. To think the six games before we had a solid back four and we were keeping clean sheets then Bartz (Kyle Bartley) and Tom Adeyemi get injured as well as Dan and Jesse going back so it’s very difficult.

“The gaffer has to change the team around and change the formation. We all know the situation with the club at the moment so it’s been difficult to bring replacements in.”

While the home form has been poor, Lee Clark’s side have been a real handful on the road with the defeat to Brighton their first away defeat in three months, although Robbo doesn’t agree with some fans claims that their style is more suited to playing away from home.

“I wouldn’t say that no. We initially go out to play like we do away from home, but teams are coming to us and parking the bus and making it difficult for us.

“Once we don’t score we make it very difficult for ourselves and the defence are under pressure all of the time.”

Today’s match gives the side a welcome break from their league commitments and a chance to knock Swansea out of both cups this season.

“They are a Premier League team and we want to be playing against these sorts of sides every week. It’s a great challenge for us and we stood toe to toe with them in the Capital One Cup so there is no reason why we can’t do that again on Saturday.”

In quick succession after the FA Cup Fourth Round match, the current in form sides in the Championship, Leicester City and Derby County, travel to St. Andrews and the Blues captain is still confident of picking up points in the two matches.

“I’m very confident, like I am going into every game. We know they are both very good teams and are playing some very good football with great squads as well which always helps.

“We’ll be the underdogs going into both of those games and we can go in with no pressure to enjoy our football and get the right result.”

In Tuesday’s match with Leicester, Robinson could be lining up against a player he knows very well from his Watford and West Brom days.

Veteran striker and former Blues favourite Kevin Phillips will be returning to St. Andrews, but could have been wearing the home shirt if the skipper had his way.

“I had a good chat with Kev before he decided what he wanted to do and he just wanted to move back closer to his family so he can enjoy more family time.

“You have to make these decisions in life and Kev’s obviously made the decision that he wants to sign for Leicester and help them get promoted, which we have to accept. I had a great chat with him and it’s a decision he feels will set him in the right direction.”

A podcast will be available on http://www.sports-radio.co.uk/ from Tuesday of the extended interview.

By Oliver Osborn (The Bluenose Bible)