West Brom v Watford: James Morrison reserves praise for key department in Baggies turnaround

The Baggies are gunning for the safety line in the battle for Championship promotion and under Morrison have developed a solid backbone.

A new centre-back pairing of Nat Phillips and George Campbell have been in place for much of the current eight-match unbeaten run and will hope to shut Watford out as the Baggies aim to take another stride toward survival at The Hawthorns on Tuesday night.

Saturday’s 2-0 victory at Preston was a fifth clean sheet in six games for Albion.

“They complement each other really well,” Morrison said of his centre-backs.

“Those two have been a really good partnership with the power and speed of George and Nat being that ‘dirty’ centre-back who will put his head in. Last week he had a nasty collision with Daryl (Dike) in training and hurt his nose.

“But he didn’t want a little mask. He just wants to get on with it.

“George has attributes Nat doesn’t and Nat defends the box, puts his head where it hurts. He’s a leader in different ways.

“George has proven to everyone he was a good find and he’s a great lad around the place. He comes in and doesn’t moan or anything. Earlier in the season he did a job for the team (at right-back) and now he’s taking his chance.”

Victory against an out-of-sorts Watford, who under February appointment Ed Still have slipped to 13th, would go a long way to completing Albion’s job.

Safety would then be mathematically secured if Oxford dropped points against Wrexham.

But an outpouring of relief will have to wait due to a financial breach charge hanging over the club. A hearing is expected soon and the general feeling is, if the club are punished, it will only at a minor level.

It has been claimed Albion could be hit with a two-point penalty but Morrison wants his squad to make any possible sanction a moot point.

“Clean sheets are really important to us, they give us a chance,” the boss said.

“We can build results from them, we’re always in the game. Sometimes we’ve struggled to score goals so clean sheets are more important for us.”

Still’s visitors Watford were beaten at home by Sheffield United on Saturday and have lost three away games on the spin, including at Oxford, to tumble into the bottom half.

“We’ve watched them and seen what threats they have, pace and power and some guile,” Morrison said.

“This is a dangerous game for us if we’re not at it and playing the way we have been.”

Baggies boss Morrison’s fears were confirmed after the weekend as he joked he would be inundated with stick as a result of his tripe fist-pump celebration at Deepdale on Saturday.

“Yes - from everyone!” a smiling Morrison confirmed.

“I blame Baggie Bird (Dave Challoner, who shared a video online). I got carried away with the emotion because I knew what it meant. I was really happy with the players. It can be hard to perform in these situations.

“It’s not me really. I’m a bit of a reserved character sometimes, but it was nice to do a Frank Lampard!

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself but I will reflect on this at the end of the season hopefully in the sunshine with a cold beer or two and a big smile on my face.”