Aynsley Pears will keep his place in goal for this weekend’s game at Birmingham City, Jon Dahl Tomasson confirmed.

That is despite the return to fitness of Thomas Kaminski who missed six weeks with a knee injury for which he underwent surgery.

Pears took over the goalkeeping duties as a result, and has impressed in his 12-game run which started with the FA Cup replay at Birmingham City on January 31.

Kaminski who spent the international break with the Belgium national team having returned to fitness earlier this month.

He did get minutes for the Under-21s in their defeat to Liverpool and was then on the bench for the FA Cup quarter final at Sheffield United.

Tomasson has been impressed with both during their performances this season, but confirmed that Pears will keep the gloves for the trip to St Andrew’s, rewarding the 24-year-old for his consistent displays.

Tomasson said: “Both keepers have done brilliant for the club this season.

“I like it as a coach, you need competition in the dressing room and it makes the training more intense.

“Players become better in that way, as a human being you never like disappointing people but as a coach that’s my task.

“Pears has done a brilliant job so you can’t just put him out of the team at the moment.

“He will play on Saturday.

“It’s never an easy decision, especially if two players have been playing brilliant for the club, both players deserve to play, but you can’t play with two goalies.”