Birmingham boss Alex McLeish hailed another match-winning contribution from Lee Bowyer, admitting his contribution to the club's season is becoming priceless.
Bowyer netted his sixth goal of the campaign to earn the Blues victory against his former club West Ham at St Andrews. It was the third time in the last four games that the 32-year-old has come up with the only goal in wins against Fulham, Wolves and now the Hammers.
McLeish said: "Lee has exceeded my expectations, and he had been given a new lease of life. He is enjoying himself, and we are getting the rewards on the field. It is difficult to put a price on what his goals are worth to us."
He added: "He looks an absolute bargain now. When we signed him from West Ham, he had had a couple of injuries and was not playing regularly. Things were not right for him.
"But what would he be worth now? The goals he has got have been winning goals, and it is difficult to put a price on what they would be worth to us if we manage to stay in the Premier League.''
McLeish acknowledges that expectation levels will rise if City maintain their current form, but he has trust in his current squad after they kept yet another clean sheet.
He said: ``The expectation level grows with every performance and result. The players have got to deal with that, but they are excellent characters.
West Ham dropped into the bottom three as a result of Wolves' surprise win at Tottenham, but manager Gianfranco Zola is refusing to go overboard.
He said: "I thought we deserved something from the game. The players tried very hard and didn't deserve this result.
"But we have to dig even deeper to find a solution, and I think we have the players to do it. It is important not to panic. We are missing important players through injury but I appreciate what these players are giving me and they are trying very hard."
