Jonno: I know what this means

Jonathan Greening has extra incentive not to be embarrassed by Wolves tonight.

Defeat in the Black Country derby at Molineux would leave the Albion captain unable to show his face in his local – or take his two young children to one of their favourite haunts.

Having lived in the West Midlands for almost four years , Greening is under no illusions about the place this local rivalry has on the footballing landscape.

And, if he ever doubted the seriousness of this evening’s fixture, he gets no shortage of reminders when he takes seven-year-old daughter Sydney and son Troy, aged three, for some fun at a Wacky Warehouse near their home.

He has steered clear of the venue in the build-up to tonight’s crunch clash, but he hopes to return in the next few days with bragging rights in tact.

“I take my kids to the ball pool in Walsall and get abused by all the Wolves fans in there,” said Greening.

“I know what this game means to everybody in the area. I have been here for four years now. So I’ll try to stay away from the ball pool with the kids for a couple of days before the Wolves game.

“They are brilliant occasions but there is so much more at stake at the moment because everyone is playing for points and everyone wants to get promoted.”

For Greening and Co tonight is the highest-profile fixture of a make-or-break quartet of matches ending with the trip to QPR on the final afternoon of the season.

And, as they found against Watford at The Hawthorns on Saturday, Greening is under no illusions that none of their remaining opponents, least of all their closest rivals, will make life easy.

“They are all massive games and we seem to be playing every two or three days at the moment,” he said.

“Each game is like a cup final and it’s going to be a very difficult game against Wolves. They are a very good team with a very good manager and they have a threat up front with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.

“They’ve got some very good players throughout the team and we know it’s going to be a very hard game.

“It’s one of our games in hand and we need to be positive and try to play like we did against Watford, hopefully with a better result at the end and a full three points.”

Greening is painfully aware of the widely-held view that the Baggies should be heading to Molineux with promotion to the Premier League already sealed.

Instead, the team regarded by most as the most talented outside the Premier League are still embroiled in a frantic multi-club race to get to the top flight.

And Greening admits the Baggies’ failure to pull away remains a source of frustrating in the dressing room.

“No-one seems to want to go away with it,” he said. “We could have had a few better results and been a lot further ahead in the table but it’s not to be so we need to get focused, work on the training ground and try to put in a good performance against a very good team.

“They are obviously trying to get into the play-off positions and we know it’s not going to be easy. There are no easy games in this league. I don’t think anyone wants to go up. We knew Watford was going to be a difficult game on Saturday and they got their goal from one of their set-plays which has been happening a lot to us recently.

“Then we equalised and they tried to hang on for the point.

“I thought we had all the possession and all the play and in the end there was only one team looking to win the game.

“We had a few chances but the ball didn’t drop and we were unlucky not to get the three points.”

Greening believes the clash with the Hornets on Saturday should provide useful preparation for tonight’s clash with McCarthy’s men.

But he is warning the Baggies defenders to be prepared for some extra quality from opposition forwards this evening.

“Wolves are very passionate and probably work as hard as Watford but they are probably a bit better than Watford going forward,” he said. “Attacking-wise Wolves have got some good players so we will have to be careful of that.

“Blake seems to be scoring goals left, right and centre at the moment so we will have to keep an eye on him.

“We know it’s going to be difficult but with four games left we’ve just got to go for it, try to push on and try to get our place in the Premier League.

“That’s where everyone wants to be,” he added.

And Greening already has an idea which of his team mates might prove to be the matchwinner.

With an enviable record in derbies and against Wolves in particular, Greening’s tip is leading scorer Kevin Phillips.

“Kev’s record of just scoring is unbelievable but I think he’s got a fair few goals against Wolves and against Mick McCarthy and it would be nice if he can pop up and get the winner,” the captain said.

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