Bruce eyes survival

Bruce eyes survival

Houllier has not given up on a Champions League spot

Birmingham manager Steve Bruce believes two more wins could be enough to guarantee his club's Premiership status following their 2-1 victory over Liverpool.

Goals from Stephen Clemence and Clinton Morrison earned the Blues their first win in 10 games on Sunday.

"It was the draw against Liverpool earlier in the season that gave us belief that we could do okay in this division, and the same hopefully will now happen again with this three points," said Bruce.

"It's not easy when you have to play Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool in successive home games.

Match report: Birmingham 2-1 Liverpool

"But we deserved to beat Liverpool. It was no fluke and hopefully that was the little kick-start we needed to get back into winning ways.

"It's a possibility that two more wins may be enough and if we got three it would mean the teams below us having to win five or six out of their last 10 games to overtake us."

Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier had no complaints about the outcome although he felt his side had two clear-cut penalty decisions rejected by referee Clive Wilkes.

We will keep on fighting in terms of trying to get a Champions League place

Gerard Houllier

He said: "Maybe the officials were not brave enough, but I am not making excuses and what happened summed up a lot of our season.

"We created chances and didn't put them away and if you don't score there is the chance you will expose yourself.

"I thought the turning point was the second goal and we were up against a team fighting for their lives, but I wouldn't say our fight and commitment was below par.

"I'm just frustrated we have not played as well as we could have done. We had a hard game in Europe on Thursday but again I am not saying that as an excuse.

"We will keep on fighting in terms of trying to get a Champions League place. There are still 10 games to go and a lot can happen."

Houllier insisted that striker Michael Owen had merely been rested as opposed to being axed after his recent poor goalscoring form.

The England star was only a late substitute and he did manage to score his second goal in 13 Premiership games since the beginning of November.

Have your say on the 606 Premiership page