With an hour of the match gone at St Andrew's and the game still goalless the Blues boss replaced Stephen Clemence and Cameron Jerome with Seb Larsson and Rowan Vine to a chorus of booing from a small element of the home fans. "We have no divine right to be second in the table but what am I supposed to do, hold up a big placard 'saying Stephen Clemence has taken a knock'? "We have to develop a siege mentality but it is not easy. We are now second in the table with two games in hand and everyone else would be dancing, but here there is an air of doom and gloom around the place. "This is incredible when you consider that there were three 18 year-olds in the side. "The result was important and the one bit of quality resulted in our goal."
"I've been here five-and-half years and the reaction of the crowd was not very good. I feel I deserve a bit more respect," Bruce said after the 1-0 home win.
"I have to take it on the chin, but there is a frustration in the club over what has happened over the last few weeks and the manager bears the brunt.