Birmingham City caretaker boss Eric Black defended his selections after their 2-0 defeat to Portsmouth.

Black decided to drop experienced keeper Maik Taylor and replace him with teenager Richard Kingson, a move that backfired as his mistake gifted Portsmouth the opening goal.

Black said: "You've got to make decisions and play your best players. Maik has been away on international duty, Richard has been looking good and deserved his opportunity.

"It was a poor goal and no-one is more disappointed than him. At 0-0, it was not a bad result for us against a top side."

Black is in contention to replace Steve Bruce - along with Scotland boss Alex McLeish - but he is focusing on matters in hand.

He said: "It is the status quo. I'll continue. I am employed by the club and will give it everything I've got. I've not been offered the job and I'll just carry on what I'm doing. My main focus now is analysing what went wrong today and then we will start again on Monday preparing for next weekend's game at Tottenham.

"I enjoyed it although obviously I would have preferred if we had won. The players were fully committed and took the energy they showed in training onto the pitch."