Maik Taylor has vowed to fight for his first-team place at Birmingham after the arrival of Joe Hart on a season-long loan from Manchester City.

Maik Taylor has pinpointed Birmingham’s squad depth as a major factor in getting the club to the brink of a return to the Premier League.Blues have endured a bad spell of injuries in which most of the club’s strikers were unavailable at various points, and these problems threatened to derail their automatic bid.

Maik Taylor has predicted that Blues will be ‘up for it’ at Watford today.

Birmingham will be without the backbone of their promotion-chasing side for the crucial Championship trip to Watford on Saturday.Goalkeeper Maik Taylor will serve a one-match suspension having seen his appeal for wrongful dismissal rejected by the Football Association’s regulatory commission.

Maik Taylor has backed Colin Doyle to shine in his absence as Birmingham look for three much-needed promotion points at Watford this weekend.Northern Ireland keeper Taylor will sit out at Vicarage Road due the one-match suspension handed to him following Monday’s red card against Plymouth Argyle.

Maik Taylor will miss Saturday’s key trip to Watford after the FA rejected Birmingham’s appeal against his red card against Plymouth Argyle.The experienced Blues number one saw red midway through the first half of Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Plymouth when he upended Jamie Mackie for the penalty that handed the visitors the lead.

Plymouth Argyle dented 10-man Birmingham’s automatic promotion hopes after an eventful 1-1 draw in the Championship at St Andrew’s.The game’s talking point came midway through the first half when Blues goalkeeper Maik Taylor was adjudged to have up-ended Jamie Mackie in the penalty area, although video replays proved the incident occurred outside the area.

Birmingham failed to close the gap on Championship leaders Wolves as Scott Dann’s early goal gave Coventry a 1-0 victory at the Ricoh Arena.The Sky Blues raced out of the blocks and Clinton Morrison forced Maik Taylor to save with his feet with little more than 30 seconds on the clock after good link-up play with strike partner Leon Best.

Dave Jones was adamant Birmingham’s last-gasp equaliser should never have stood and said Cardiff’s 1-1 draw at St Andrew’s felt like a defeat.The Bluebirds looked on course for a deserved victory on the balance of play after Joe Ledley volleyed a sublime effort into the top corner just after the hour mark, leaving Maik Taylor as a mere spectator.

Maik Taylor says Birmingham will get even stronger as the season progresses but admits there is room for improvement.