Birmingham City manager Garry Monk has given a positive update on the fitness of long-term absentee Isaac Vassell. 

The striker had been out with a knee injury since November 2017 but made his long-awaited return for the last ten minutes in the 2-1 loss to Middlesbrough last weekend.

"It is fantastic having Vassell back," Monk told his pre-match press conference.

"We are excited but we are mindful of it too, we need to build him back up in the right way, we are not putting pressure on him.

"We are delighted to have him back, I’m very excited to work with him now he is back in the mix."

Vassell made the move to St. Andrews from Luton Town in the summer of 2017 but has made just 11 appearances thanks to his luck with injuries, scoring just one goal.

With the Hatters, however, he had a much better strike rate, bagging 16 times in 53 appearances.

The Blues travel to high-flying Norwich City tonight as they look to bounce back to winning ways and continue their push for a surprise top-six place.

Monk currently has his side sat in eighth place with 27 matches played, four points behind Derby County who occupy the final play-off place.

The verdict 

This is very good news for the Blues.

I do not expect Vassell to start ahead of Che Adams or Lukasz Jutkiewicz, but Omar Bogle has largely failed to provide intense enough competition so the more they have challenging them the better.

It will be very interesting to see whether or not the Blues can maintain their form for the second half of the season or if they will fall away.