Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett has hinted that Andrew Shinnie could be handed his first Championship start of the campaign on Friday night.

The attacking midfielder was in line to feature from the off in the Blues' 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest, only for Rowett to change his mind at the last minute.

With a congested fixture list ahead, including a much-anticipated trip to rivals Aston Villa next week, Shinnie could now be thrown in against Ipswich Town.

"We are only early in the season, that's the one thing I have stressed to all the players, we have only had six league games and the team had been unbeaten," Rowett is quoted as saying by the Birmingham Mail.

"A lot of our attacking play has gone through Jon [Toral] in that No.10 position. But we also know Shinns is brilliant in that position as well, it's nice to have those options. There are going to be times when I think Shinns will be more suited to certain games and times Jon, but when you are winning games it's difficult to change it.

"That was probably my hardest decision, my gut feeling was to play Shinns on Tuesday night then I decided against it at the last minute. Certainly he will come into my thinking on Friday."

Shinnie has played five times for City in all so far this season, with his only two starts coming in the early rounds of the League Cup.