Club legend is backing West Brom to ‘nick it’ against Saints

He also experienced play-off elation and heartbreak in between, as Albion progressed through a two-legged semi-final against arch-rivals Wolves in 2007 but fell at the final hurdle against Derby at Wembley.

Robinson, now a coach and part of Gary Rowett’s interim staff at relegated Blues with Mowbray sidelined through illness, sees the mentality of a squad as key to positive results in the play-offs.

Ahead of tomorrow’s first leg at The Hawthorns against the Saints, Robinson told the Express & Star: “I think the experience West Brom have will help, it always does. There are leaders there and the squad hasn’t changed, they’ve dealt with the season together, not many new January faces – apart from Mikey Johnston who has been fantastic, and Tom Fellows coming in (from the academy) too, who adds something different.

“I think that togetherness will see West Brom through. There will be more pressure on Southampton, how they play, their players, they are favourites.

“It’s an intriguing tie and I believe West Brom will nick it, they will be mentally stronger with their togetherness as a group. If they can nullify Southampton’s qualities they can edge it. It’s about being patient with the counter-attack.”

Baggies hero Robinson played 238 games for the club between 2003 and 2009, including three seasons as a regular in the top flight.

His Albion side saw off Wolves 4-2 on aggregate – 3-2 away and 1-0 at home – to book their final place at Wembley, the first time the second-tier play-off final was staged at the new national stadium. The Baggies were seen off by the Rams, though, thanks to Stephen Pearson’s second-half winner.

“When we were involved it was the mentality of the players,” he added. “We believed we’d play well and win the games. As individuals we used our quality and strength to work together for the team.

“That’s the biggest thing for me. There’s added pressure now, the prize at the end of it, the money, playing at Wembley, it’s about having the mental strength to go through it and focus on how you can get through.

“We had Jonathan Greening, Kevin Phillips, Diomansy Kamara, Zoltan Gera, Jason Koumas was there, big big characters and they were individuals that could win games by themselves.

“It was a lot of experience, quality, knowhow, we were streetwise and knew what we had to do. We also had a top manager in Tony Mowbray, who knew how to set us out to get the best out of us.

“We intimidated the opposition, even before we got our there, in the tunnel, we made it uncomfortable for them knowing we were ready for war with our local rivals. We stared at them and they were scared of playing us.”

Russell Martin’s Southampton did the double over Carlos Corberan’s men this term via a 2-1 success at St Mary’s and 2-0 victory at The Hawthorns.

The visitors played well in the first game in Hampshire and looked like taking a deserved point before a sloppy late Adam Armstrong winner. Corberan was dismissed after seven minutes of February’s clash at The Hawthorns, in which Albion were beaten 2-0.

“When you go through the play-offs there are the always emotions of getting there, and then making the final,” Robinson said.

“Going into it now having beat Preston 3-0 on the last day will give them a bit more confidence going into Southampton.

“Southampton have won both games but the best way to approach play-off games is with your game plan. How are you going to go against Southampton and how are they going to hurt them?

“We did the same in the games, against Wolves. We had the mindset we would do well and get through. Unfortunately we lost in the final, but we got promotion afterwards. We had a good togetherness and that gets you through at important times when the going gets tough.

“The main thing is that you stick together and do all that the manager wants you to.”

The former full-back dished out big praise for the job ex-Huddersfield boss Corberan has carried out in a little over 18 months at The Hawthorns.

“I just think it’s been an outstanding season, especially for the size of the squad Carlos has had to work with, the way he’s got them playing as a team, I think they fully deserve to be in the play-offs,” Robinson added. “Can they go that one step further now at the end of the season when you’ve used that squad all season? Can they go that extended two weeks?

“With where West Brom is, Carlos has had no money to put into the squad, I think it’s an outstanding achievement what he’s done. I’m just hoping they can go all the way now.

“Carlos has done an amazing job with his budget. A lot of people would like to see him have a budget to spend and what he can do with it, that would be interesting.”