Express & Star

Ally Robertson: Playing against Brandon Thomas-Asante? I wouldn’t fancy that gig!

I would hate being a defender against Brandon Thomas-Asante!

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The Baggies’ top scorer is one of those that just never stops, he chases everything and battles for every ball.

He’s a strong kid and he has got a turn of pace as well, he makes things happen for himself.

When he came to the club late on in the summer some people said ‘oh, he’s come from a lower league club does it matter?’

I said and I will repeat this again, Cyrille Regis came from a non-league club and look what happened to him! I hope Brandon can continue, he’s been brilliant in everything he’s done.

We’ve seen him rotate with Daryl Dike, who has now been available again after his injury troubles.

Dike headed the winner against Reading in our last home game, I’m just hopeful now he’s fit and the biggest thing is that he hasn’t come back too early.

That’s where you win games, balls into the box. And if you’ve got a proper centre-forward then you can get that, a brilliant header.

We need to have those two up front, if we can play one and rest one and keep doing that, it’s great to know we have two goalscorers. We haven’t had that for a little while!

What great form Okay Yokuslu is enjoying at the moment. That Preston game where he scored both goals, he was doing everything, passing, doing all the other bits, he was fantastic on Boxing Day too.

He looks the part because everybody around him is working in their roles. Once we’ve got the ball now we’re passing it so quickly, one touch and pass, we’re making it happen. Yokuslu is one of the players who is starting that.

The atmosphere within the ground now is brilliant to be part of. When it’s like that it picks the players up.

It was a bit dicey at the end of the last home game against Reading, as it can be when you don’t get that second goal, but we got there with that clean sheet.

The confidence in all the lads now, from where we were, is brilliant. We’ve taken all the games to the opposition, we’ve not let the other teams make things happen.

The manager and players need all the credit because they’ve gone out there and done it.

You’ve got to hold your hands up to the gaffer, he’s come in and changed it while still being the same players. He’s changed the attitudes and the way we play.

The biggest thing for me is that we want it back when we lose the ball. When you’re on a run like this it’s great turning up to training each day, you enjoy every second.

You can’t wait for matches to start on a winning streak. On a losing streak, everything is going through your head ‘what have we got to do today?’ ‘make sure we don’t do this or that’.

When you’re winning it’s just like ‘let’s get out there and do it’, players do things they’re natural at, that’s the great thing.

You think too much when getting beat. The difference is fantastic.

The players know we’ve got two tough league away games at Luton and Burnley. If we play with the same style we have been, then we’ll be alright.

If we let them dictate and our game drops off, then we might struggle. But we’ve got a great chance before coming back for some home games.