Birmingham manager Alex McLeish has warned recalled striker Christian Benitez to cut out the diving starting against Everton.

The back-in-favour Ecuador international made an impressive return to the starting line-up in the midweek 2-1 win at Portsmouth, which took Blues eighth and two points clear of tomorrow’s opponents.

But Benitez blotted his copybook by going to ground too easily, picking up a yellow card, and McLeish fears such actions will be looked upon unfavourably by referees in future.

The manager said: “He went down the other night and from the dug-out it looked a good shout for a penalty. But when you saw the playbacks, you realised the referee quite rightly said it was a dive and he was spot on.

“Christian has got to learn the culture here and that we frown upon things like that. He has to stay on his feet.

“He will now have to stay on his feet, because the next time he gets clipped I’m sure the referee will say – ‘We’ve seen him diving and I’ll book him for that.’

“Hopefully referees will treat Christian fairly, but I’m certainly going to have a word with him about that situation. You don’t dive.”

Despite that blemish, the striker has impressed his manager with a positive response to being left out and will resume his partnership with Cameron Jerome against David Moyes’ in-form side.

McLeish has still to make a final decision on whether to sign Benitez on a permanent basis, following his season-long loan switch to St Andrew’s.

But it’s looking good for the player and the Blues boss would like to keep him if the deal is right.

He said: “We have still got to make that decision. He definitely gives us something but he’s still a work in progress. In terms of the English league he has still got things to learn. He had a recent injury and his confidence levels went a bit low.

“But he showed good things when he came on as a substitute in the FA Cup game at Portsmouth, and looked his old self again in the league game with them on Tuesday.

“He hasn’t scored many goals but his six or seven assists have been really valuable in getting us into the position we are in at the moment.”

Midfielder Lee Bowyer is expected to be fit after missing the midweek trip to Fratton Park through illness – and Kevin Phillips is back in contention for a spot on the bench after injury.