Midfielder extends stay

Nigel Quashie will spend a second month with Championship outfit Birmingham after an extension to his current loan spell was agreed.

30-year-old Quashie - who played just a handful of games for the Hammers following his January 2007 move from West Bromwich Albion - has impressed enough to earn a second spell at the City Ground, although a permanent move is by no means a certainty.

"We've worked very hard to get Nigel to a level of fitness and we want to take our time with that," Blues boss Alex McLeish, confirming the deal, said this afternoon.

"Hopefully he's going to get much, much sharper and then we can look at extending it further.

"Nigel knows that he's missed an awful lot of football and he's now trying to impress. He's given us a fantastic contribution.

"It's about getting games under his belt - and there's not any reason for us to rush into a long-term agreement."

Quashie was signed by Alan Curbishley in January 2007 for £1.5million. He made just eight appearances before sustaining a mysery foot injury that kept him out of action for some 18 months.

* Both of West Ham United's other loanees featured at the weekend; youth team captain John Payne was an 86th minute substitute as Cheltenham lost 1-0 to Carlisle whilst Bondz N'Gala was a 24th minute sub for MK Dons as they coasted to a 3-0 win at Walsall.