Skipper will fight to finish
Battle-hardened Paul Robinson is ready to have pain killing injections before every remaining game to ensure he plays in Albion's nail-biting run-in. Battle-hardened Paul Robinson is ready to have pain killing injections before every remaining game to ensure he plays in Albion's nail-biting run-in. The Baggies captain has been struggling with a groin injury for several weeks and had jabs before each of their last two games. And, with Albion's defensive options further limited by question marks over the fitness of Neil Clement and Sam Sodje, Robinson is determined to play through the pain of a problem that won't require surgery. "I'm going to have to keep having jabs before games because otherwise it's going to be difficult to train and play," said Robinson.
The Baggies captain has been struggling with a groin injury for several weeks and had jabs before each of their last two games.
And, with Albion's defensive options further limited by question marks over the fitness of Neil Clement and Sam Sodje, Robinson is determined to play through the pain of a problem that won't require surgery.
"I'm going to have to keep having jabs before games because otherwise it's going to be difficult to train and play," said Robinson.
"This is an important run in for us now and I don't want to miss the games. I want to be playing.
"If I'm going to play I need to do that without any pain and the jabs take the pain away. Thankfully I'm not going to need surgery. It's just scar tissue on my abdominal muscle.
"Everything revolves around your abdominal muscle so it's a difficult thing to clear up when you're constantly running, training and trying to play games. Hopefully, with time off in the summer I can get the rest needed for it to clear up."
The 28-year-old is hopeful the injury won't take the edge of his performances after being able to resume training.
"Performance-wise it affected me at QPR because I hadn't trained for two weeks," said Robinson.
"You can't do that because you need your fitness levels to be up to perform at a high level every week.
"I was disappointed with my performance last week, but I got a full week's training under my belt and had another jab before the game and felt better on Saturday."
Robinson and top scorer Diomansy Kamara, who didn't face Stoke on Saturday because of illness, should have clear runs through to the end of the season after avoiding collecting their 10th bookings before yesterday's yellow card amnesty.
Darren Carter was not so lucky and picked up a 10th caution against the Potters, ruling him out of Albion's forthcoming trips to Burnley and Coventry.