Pepe Mel calls on shocked West Bromwich Albion to battle back

The Baggies failed to protect a 3-2 lead against relegation-haunted Cardiff City to concede an equaliser with two seconds of the game remaining.

It was another shock setback for the Baggies and for the Spanish head coach struggling to get a foothold in the Premier League's battle to stay up.

Albion missed the chance to go six points clear of Cardiff and are now one place above the relegation zone although Sunderland – who face West Ham tonight – have the games in hand to overhaul them and could move within a point of the Baggies with victory.

It is more tense than it has been all season for an Albion side furious with themselves for failing to protect the win Thievy Bifouma appeared to have given them in the final minute of added time.

And that followed Albion squandering a 2-0 lead in a repeat of their experiences in both games against Villa this season.

Mel said: "This game was very similar to the one at Villa Park but we followed that up with a good display against Liverpool. We need to do that again. We need that same attitude.

"Because it's the next game we need to perform well. I believe we did well on Saturday.

"Leading the game 3-2 we should have killed the game off. We have really sinned. We sinned as an inexperienced team. It's normal that people won't be happy. There is a lot at stake. But we trust in the players.

"What I'm really concerned about is that we played a good game. We played very well during the first-half and the players put in a good shift so I can't criticise them for that."

Injury-hit Albion can at least be sure of having Jonas Olsson available again for what will now be a crunch clash at Norwich this weekend. He is available again after suspension.

But despite missing several senior players, there was no place for Scott Sinclair in his matchday squad with Mel hinting he had not seen enough from him in training.