Albion boss Tony Mowbray will change his line-up tonight but not accept any excuses for anything less than victory.

Mowbray wants to use the testing second round tie at Hartlepool to give his fringe players the chance for some action. But the luxury of utilising the game as an extended training ground session has been removed by the Baggies’ disappointing start to the campaign.

Back-to-back defeats may not have surprised some but Albion head off for tonight’s tie convinced they should have more to show for their contribution to the matches against Arsenal and Everton.

If that continues, players can start feeling sorry for themselves very easily and a hard luck culture can cause even more damage within a club – all of which makes victory tonight an imperative regardless of what changes Mowbray makes.

“There will be a few changes but there won’t be massed changes,” said Mowbray.

“It will still be a team of Premier League players who are striving to get on the pitch in league matches.

“There will be some who haven’t been away in international games who will be desperate to get started. It will be a strong side which I hope can win.

“It is still early in the season so there is no need to rest players. Some of them have been away with internationals and maybe there will be a reason for giving them a breather.

“Everyone is fighting for their place and someone who might get a place in the Carling Cup does exceptionally well – and stays in the team for Saturday. 

“I think the confidence is high from the way the team played on Saturday. There is no problem with confidence.

“But it is not easy to go to Hartlepool and get a win. I wouldn’t be disrespectful to Hartlepool and say we are going to go there and score lots of goals. 

“They are a decent team, work extremely hard and have got some good individuals. It is a tough game for us. No-one should be thinking we are going to go there and score a bagful of goals.

“It might be the case but we are anticipating a tough game.”

Hartlepool began the season with back-to-back victories which saw them score seven goals but two 1-0 defeats have taken the wind out of their sails. And they have been further hit by the loss of hard-tackling midfielder Willie Boland because of medial knee ligament damage suffered in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat by Stockport.

Alan Power came on in Boland’s place in that game and the youngster is likely to start against Albion.

Defender Ben Clark is still missing but manager Danny Wilson, who himself made a host of changes for Pools’ first-round tie with Scunthorpe, is expected to pick his strongest line-up and despite those defeats is full of optimism about what the night can bring.

“It will be a terrific game for everybody,” said Wilson, mindful that their Victoria Park has been a hostile environment for visiting teams in the past.

“We have got absolutely nothing to lose and it can give us a big boost in confidence should we get something out of the game.

“I hope teams aren’t looking forward to coming to the Vic and they are coming here with a little bit of trepidation.”

Wilson, who like Mowbray is a passionate advocate of the passing game, finds himself preaching a similar “Keep the Faith” message as his adversary tonight after losing to a solitary goal in the 94th minute on Saturday. 

“We have got to earn the right to keep it like that. But throughout the game against Stockport on Saturday we played well and their goalkeeper was inspired at times,” he added.

“We showed great endeavor, great enthusiasm and in the end we just fell short.

“They snatched it and the way they played meant it was going to be tight for us and they had 11 men behind the ball every time we attacked.”

Albion fans will be optmistic that their manager will utilise a two-man attacking spearhead for the first time this season and would relish the chance to get Luke Moore on to the pitch after injury problems.

“I am hoping he is available,” he says.