Express & Star

Brunt hails 'special promotion'

Albion winger Chris Brunt today hailed the Baggies' latest promotion as better than their Championship title in 2008.

Published

Albion winger Chris Brunt today hailed the Baggies' latest promotion as better than their Championship title in 2008.

The Northern Ireland wideman believes this season's second-placed finish with a club record 91 points has eclipsed the triumph two years ago under Tony Mowbray.

Brunt said: "The last one was special because we won the league.

"But I think this one is more special purely because of the stats.

"We've won more games, got more points and scored nearly as many goals.

"For me personally it's been better because I've been a lot more involved."

Brunt started 39 games this season with only vice-captain Jonas Olsson and player-of-the-year Graham Dorrans starting more.

And the former Sheffield Wednesday man believes the club's ability to handle the pressure of expectation has been the most impressive aspect of their success.

"There was a change of coaching staff and everything just seemed to click into place," said Brunt.

"It's been a good season.

"Coming back down you are always going to be under pressure to go straight back up.

"We've coped with that pretty well.

"We had a couple of sticky patches but I don't think anyone can argue with our form or performances over the season.

"We've been promoted because we deserve to be promoted.

"It's also nice to set a record and it's a good feeling.

"It's something good to look back on in your career and it's nice to come back to a club when you're older and be recognised for achievements like that."

Brunt also ended the season as Albion's joint leading Championship scorer with 13 League goals, the same total as Dorrans.

"I've been delighted with the amount of goals I've scored this season, especially as I missed a few games through injury at the start of the season," he said.

"It would have been impossible to do it without the rest of the lads.

"I always try and get myself into goalscoring areas.

"It doesn't really matter who scores the goals but it's good to have goals all through the team."

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.