BRADLEY Johnson knows Norwich City's margin for error is decreasing ahead of facing Birmingham City at St Andrew's tomorrow (3pm).

Last weekend's 2-1 defeat to promotion rivals Brentford saw the Canaries miss the opportunity to move back into the top-six, leaving them four points shy of the play-off positions with 19 games of the regular season remaining.

The 27-year-old is eager to shake off that disappointment by putting in an improved display against a resurgent Blues outfit, and told the media at Colney on Friday morning: "It’s the closing part of the season now, so this is where it matters.

"We need to start picking up points and go on a run to get some consistency going. When you play teams who are up there, you need to put in a performance, but not many could say they had a good game last week.

"You can't be doing that in this league, especially against a good team like Brentford. They came here and had a go at us, and we were bitterly disappointed after the game.

"We've got to concentrate on this weekend now because we're expected to do a job at this Club, and to win most of the games we go into."

The match will mark a first return to St Andrew's for Birmingham academy graduate Nathan Redmond, with the City winger having left his boyhood team to move to Carrow Road in the summer of 2013.

Comparisons have since been made between Redmond and emerging Blues starlet Demarai Gray, who struck his first career goal during the 2-2 draw between the sides in the reverse fixture back in September.

The 18-year-old has gone on to establish himself as a key player under former Burton Albion boss Gary Rowett, with Johnson commenting: "They are very similar in the way they play, but hopefully we can keep him quiet on Saturday and Nathan can take all the plaudits going back to his hometown club.

"It’s going to be a good day out for him [Redmond] so hopefully we’ll get the three points and he’ll have a good game himself. He's fired up for it, but they've got a new manager in and have gone on a good run themselves so it's going to be a hard game.

"We've just got to go down there and attack them while being mindful of the counter-attack. Everyone's got to be on their game, because we need to start putting together a run towards the end of the season."

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