The veteran striker, who has already netted four goals this term to help Blues to the top of the Championship, has only started four games out of 10 but is determined to force his way into the reckoning on a permanent basis as McLeish looks to find his ideal pairing among an embarrassment of riches in attack.

"I was prepared for rotation," he told the club's official website. "I want to start as many games as I can and I'm disappointed that I haven't started as many games as I want.

"But all I can do when I do start games or come on is prove myself, score and make it difficult for the manager to leave me out. It's the same as any of the other strikers but hopefully I'll maybe get a few games on the bounce."

The 35-year-old grabbed the winner in Saturday's 1-0 victory over QPR to ensure Blues took seven points from a possible nine last week, a return he and the rest of his team-mates were more than pleased with.

"This has been a great week for us with three tough matches and to come out of it with seven points is tremendous," added Phillips. "It's still early days and we're not going to get too carried away but it's been a fantastic start for us. We need consistency now."