The rumour from the Midlands was that Gordon Strachan asked Birningham for the loan of Kevin Phillips ... but Brum replied: "no but Marcus Bent is available".

That seems to be the case, and not exactly good for Bent, but the player isn’t ruling out extending his Boro stay into 2010.

 The 31-year-old striker signed a two-month short-term contract on Friday and is scheduled to return to Birmingham City on December 28.

Bent (talking to the Gazette): “It depends on how I do. I’m not sure, at this stage, I just know I’ve got two months and at the moment I’m here until the end of December.

“Hopefully I can settle in quickly and help the team and we can move up the table.

“We want to finish first or second. I want to achieve things, I want to get promoted, I want to play in the Premier League. This is a massive club with lots of quality players.”