Alex McLeish has issued a rallying battle cry to his Blues troops ahead of Saturday's crunch clash against relegation rivals Reading.

Blues are currently just one place and one point behind their hosts going into the weekend game.

A disastrous run of eight successive defeats had seen Steve Coppell's side drop into the relegation zone by the end of February.

However, the Royals have recovered since then and back-to-back wins over Middlesbrough and Man City and a courageous narrow defeat at Liverpool last time out has raised the spirits at the Berkshire club.

McLeish knows that his team will have to be up for the fight on Saturday afternoon and he is only too aware of the significance of the game to his side's survival chances.

"Games against teams like Reading are crucial to the retention of our Premier League status," admitted the Blues boss.

"It's a huge game for both teams but the way we're playing I don't think we should be afraid of going anywhere and be positive about every game we've got from here on in.

"We have to go and square up to Reading and be absolutely 100 per cent ready to battle."

The Reading game comes hot on the heels of last Monday's clash against another of the sides in trouble at the foot of the table, Newcastle.

Blues missed the chance to leapfrog Kevin Keegan's side as they were held to a 1-1 draw but McLeish was still pleased with his team's desire and application during the game.

"The performance levels have been pretty good and the appetite has been excellent," he added.

"The second half we got pinned back a wee bit by Newcastle but we came back strongly again at the end.

"We know that there's still a big job to be done."

McLeish has every admiration for the job that Coppell has done at Reading since taking over at the Royals in 2003.

"They excelled in the Premier League last year but this season they've found it a bit tougher," commented the Blues boss.

"But they've got good Premier League experience.

"It's been a team that by and large has been together for two or three years now so they've got a very good understanding.

"I saw them up at Liverpool and they played well so this will be a tough game."

Coppell echoed McLeish's sentiments about the importance of this weekend's encounter.

"This game is massively important. In terms of the future safety of both clubs, if you win the game you're making up a lot of ground on the opposition," said the Royals boss.

"With games running out, it makes it all the more intense. We're both very much aware of the importance of the result."

McLeish will wait until the last moment to decide whether influential winger Seb Larsson has recovered sufficiently from the knee injury that forced his early withdrawal against Newcastle.

Otherwise the Blues boss reported a clean bill of health with even the long term injury victim Kapo due to return to full training next week.

Martin Taylor is also available again after suspension but McLeish confirmed that the big defender would not be included in the travelling party for the weekend.

Graeme Murty, Glen Little and Brynjar Gunnarsson are all sidelined and unavailable for the hosts.

Blues will be cheered on by a sell-out away following at this Saturday's game. In fact, the match is a completely sold out for both sets of fans so there should be a good atmosphere for this massive 'six-pointer'.