Birmingham City captain Harlee Dean has claimed that the Blues mental preparation helped them in their 1-1 draw with Rotherham United yesterday, which has drawn an interesting reaction from fans of the Championship club. 

Jeremie Bela grabbed a 90th-minute equaliser from the penalty spot to ensure the points were split at St Andrew's with Rotherham having taken the lead via spot-kick just three minutes earlier.

Aitor Karanka's men remain unbeaten in the Championship, having beaten Brentford on the opening weekend and holding Swansea City to a draw last Saturday.

They will likely have been eyeing a win against the newly promoted Millers but were forced to settle for just a point in what was a real scrap.

Speaking after the game, Dean – who was resolute against Rotherham – provided his thoughts on the performance.

He said: "The manager said it in his press conference, it was going to be the hardest test yet. We knew that, it was just whether we had mentally prepared for it.

"I could tell in the warm-up the boys knew what was coming and knew what was required. It was real good, you could see everyone battling, everyone fighting for first and second balls."

Dean added: "I think we created chances in the second half and were by far the better team. Last year we would've lost that game but this year we haven't."

Can you name these 10 ex-Birmingham City midfielders?

 

The result leaves Karanka's men in seventh ahead of their trip to Stoke City next weekend.

Dean's comments appear to have caught the attention of Blues fans, many of whom took to Twitter to voice their thoughts.

Read their reaction here: