Liam Ridgewell has told Birmingham they should copy the example of Sunderland if they want to cement their status as a Premier League club, reports the Birmingham Mail. "Brucie has got a good squad together, a strong squad as well," said Ridgewell, who made his comeback after five months out recovering from a broken left leg.

"He has spent a lot of money and they're the sort of club we're striving to be like.

"They've got the type of squad we want to get to. Their strength in depth was always going to make it difficult for us, especially with our injuries.

"We handled ourselves better in the second-half but it was a poor start really and we never properly recovered. They deserved to win and we've just got to look at them as an example."