Taylor was forced to serve a three game ban following his sending off against Arsenal

Alex McLeish has today confirmed that Martin Taylor will not be in the Blues squad to face Reading on Saturday.

The centre half is eligible for the fixture after serving out a three match suspension following his sending off against Arsenal in February.

But McLeish says that he is happy with his current central defensive pairing of Liam Ridgewell and Radhi Jaidi and that Taylor will need to bide his time.

"He (Taylor) won't be in the squad at the weekend," said the Blues boss.

"At the moment I'm satisfied with the defensive performances and that's what happens when you go out of the team.

"Sometimes through suspension or injury somebody comes in and it's up to the person that comes in to make it hard for me, and the two guys in the centre of defence have done well."

Taylor in action for the Reserves earlier this week.

Taylor came through 90 minutes of reserve team football earlier in the week against Spurs, so his fitness levels are fine for when he does return to the first team fold, according to McLeish.

"He's naturally fit lad anyway," added McLeish.

"Until anybody gets back in the first team it's only right they should be playing in the reserve team.

"Franck (Queudrue) has been playing there, Schmitz has been playing there and De Ridder has been playing there and that's the beauty of having reserve team football."