Mowbray: I'll fight on with Baggies

12 April 2009 07:00
Defiant West Brom manager Tony Mowbray refused to concede his side were doomed to relegation after they were held to a 2-2 draw at Portsmouth. The Baggies anchor the Premier League, seven points adrift of safety with six games remaining after a Niko Kranjcar free-kick denied them victory at Fratton Park. "We've been here for a long time. We need to win at Manchester City and get on with it," said Mowbray. "The fans deserve a team that is playing for them right until the death and I think they are getting that. "The desire and the commitment of the players is clearly still there." Younes Kaboul fired Pompey ahead in the 33rd minute with a brilliant individual goal but spirited West Brom hit back after the interval. Skipper Jonathan Greening equalised before Chris Brunt converted a free-kick that took a heavy deflection off Graham Dorrans, who has claimed the goal. But just three minutes later Pompey, who wilted alarmingly after the interval, salvaged a point through the impressive Kranjcar. "I'd have liked us to have stayed in front a bit longer, that would have made it an interesting test for Portsmouth," said Mowbray. "The atmosphere inside Fratton Park forces Portsmouth forward and the way the match unfolded we could have picked some holes in them as they over-committed in search of the equaliser. "This has been the story of our season. We give ourselves chances to win matches yet invariably end up losing them, although today we drew one. "Invariably we're playing against teams with proven internationals and in general we have an inexperienced team." Mowbray confirmed that Dorrans had claimed West Brom's second. "The boys are saying the dressing room that it hit Graham Dorrans on the backside - he has rather a large backside," he said. "Dorrans is claiming it and he ran away celebrating. I've got no problem with him claiming it." Pompey climbed to 14th in the table, four points above relegation, and manager Paul Hart was pleased his team refused to throw in the towel in the second half. "You've got to give credit to West Brom. Most games from here on in will be difficult - at both ends of the table," he said. "Without taking anything away from West Brom maybe they played with a little more freedom because of their situation. "But we didn't go under. We showed resilience and a mental toughness that earned us a point. "We didn't play well today and it would be wrong to say otherwise, but we've come out of it with a draw. "We've moved up two places and 10 points from seven games is the best run we've had since October. "We're not sprinting our way over the line, we're crawling there. But if that's what we need to do then we'll continue to crawl."

Source: Eurosport