Blues boss won't give up Carling Cup

Birmingham boss Chris Hughton admits promotion from the Championship is the club's aim - but warns Blues will not give up their Carling Cup trophy without a fight.

Hughton's men face a daunting trip to free-spending Manchester City in the third round of the competition tonight, beginning a defence of the trophy they clinched by beating Arsenal 2-1 in last season's final.

Much has happened since that day at Wembley – Blues were relegated from the Premier League, manager Alex McLeish crossed to city rivals Villa and the club's financial difficulties have reached fever pitch.

And Hughton insists Birmingham's cup exploits this term – including their Europa League campaign, a direct result of last season's cup success – nestle behind their promotion charge on the agenda.

He said: "Our main priority of course is the Championship and doing as well as we can in that, but we know what the cup competitions mean to the club and the supporters.

"It's impossible to go into any game and not want to win it, whatever problems that can cause regarding the fixtures. I don't think there's any game you can go into and not want to win it.

"We don't want to relinquish the trophy lightly but it will be a tough ask going to Manchester City, whichever team they put out, but I think it's impossible to not look forward to the challenge."

Hughton insists the decision not to include the Carling Cup in Birmingham's 2011-12 pre-season team photo was due to the desire of "a fresh start."

He added: "It's a nice challenge for us, we're having to face up to lots of different challenges this season."