Mowbray fights demons in dug-out

Albion boss Tony Mowbray admitted he went through agonies as the Baggies made their way to the Premiership last night.

Despite dominating the game and setting up a string of goalscoring openings, Albion had to come from behind to secure the point which makes their promotion-winning position unassailable if not mathematically confirmed.

Mowbray said: "You sit in the dug-out and fight the demons. It's very difficult when you're so close not to think about the negatives.

"You try to put them out of your mind and trust in the team. They came good and we're looking at positives rather than negatives.

"You tend to run both scenarios through your mind before the game and think of the words to get them up again for Sunday if you have to.

"You also try and imagine the euphoria of a winning dressing room and knowing you're up. I suppose a point in my mind is somewhere in between that. It's going to have to be a strange set of results at the weekend for us not to enjoy the Premier League next season."

And he was again baffled how Albion were left to claw their way to the result they needed after an electric second-half performance.

"I thought the team functioned very well under the expectation, pressure and occasion. We played against a team who have some very good technical players, players who we'd like at this club like Safri, who was pretty close to joining us once-upon-at-time.

"They came with a game plan and were very solid. We weren't direct enough in the first-half to actually ask enough questions of their defence.

"We tried to change that and in the second half we came out with a real purpose and desire. How we didn't get our noses in front in a 20-minite spell then was baffling.

"The longer it went without us scoring you felt 'could it be one those nights?' Then they scored on the break. But the positive outcome was seeing what came off the bench.

"Chris Brunt came off the bench when James Morrison got injured and sometimes that the difference in this league.

"Quality replaced quality and ultimately that's what got us out of jail with a great strike that went through the keeper's legs."

He sensed a determination from the players to keep the lid on the excitement until the task is complete – and that means heading for QPR to win the title on Sunday.

He added: "While the players are enjoying the moment, they are talking about winning the league. That's a very strong feeling they've got.

"They want to finish off the season at the weekend with a very positive performance. It's been a long hard slog of a season, especially on the back of the play-off defeat last year and the changes we had to make in the summer.

"For some strange reason, on the back of that expectation, we have been labelled the 'best team' in the league. It's baffled me all year because there were three teams coming down from the Premier League and it can be a burden sometimes.

"But great credit to the players for overcoming that and we're there."