Robbo says sorry to fans

Paul Robinson has issued an apology to the travelling fans for Albion's no-show at Southend, admitting: "We were a disgrace."

The Baggies slumped to a 3-0 half-time deficit to the Championship's bottom club on New Year's Day and were humbled 3-1.

Robinson admitted Albion's attitude had been all wrong during the opening 45 minutes at Roots Hall and said he felt sorry for the supporters who made the 370-mile round trip.

"We were a disgrace," said Robinson. "We shouldn't play like that, in the first half especially. Why should it take us 45 minutes before we play?

"No disrespect to Southend, but we should have a good chance of beating teams at the bottom of the table.

"We went there with the attitude we were probably going to win and we shouldn't have.

"I feel sorry for all the fans that travelled down to Southend because they spend a lot of money and it was New Year's Day.

"I'm sure they would have preferred to do other things on New Year's Day than watch us get battered by Southend. We owe the fans a big apology because we performed really badly."

Albion's first chance to make amends is Saturday's FA Cup clash with Leeds at The Hawthorns.

It could be a very different Leeds side that the Baggies face after the arrivals of Tore Andre Flo, Robbie Elliott, Matt Heath and Armando Sa, and the permanent capture of on-loan Tresor Kandol from Barnet.

But Robinson insists that it's vital they recapture the form which saw them go unbeaten last month.

"Obviously, it's not our priority as our main concern is the league and getting back into the Premiership.

"But we can go into the game knowing there are no points to play for and we can just try to regain the form we showed in December."