Chris Wood tipped to kick on at Blues

West Brom assistant boss Michael Appleton today claimed Chris Wood's loan spell at Birmingham will help bring the teenager out of his shell.

The New Zealand international has extended his youth loan at St Andrew's until January 6 after scoring seven goals in 10 Blues appearances so far.

And Appleton reckons an extended spell of first-team football will be a useful phase of the big striker's development.

Boss Roy Hodgson's No 2 said: "I think he is coming out of his shell a little now. He is probably a little bit quiet and shy with the media but within his group he has and shown a little bit of character.

"That was the case when we went to the United States in pre-season. All of a sudden he started to find a personality, which he'd struggled to find beforehand."