West Bromwich Albion Football Club News

• Nickname:The Baggies
• Founded:1878
• Manager:Roy Hodgson

• Ground:The Hawthorns
• Capacity:25,400

Boss defends red card Robbo

30 Oct 2006 - 15:06:42

Click To Enlarge

West Brom manager Tony Mowbray has reacted angrily to suggestions that Paul Robinson deliberately set out to injure Damien Johnson during Saturday's 2-0 loss at Birmingham City.

Robinson was sent off after a collision that left the Blues midfielder with a broken jaw and received heavy criticism from Birmingham boss Steve Bruce, who branded the challenge "intentional" and "absolutely disgraceful".

Mowbray viewed the incident very differently and insisted it was merely an unfortunate accident.

"I came back after the game and had a look and watched it. I've been made aware of some comments that Steve made," the former Hibs chief told Sky Sports News.

"My take on it, is for me, it's a mis-control that's getting away from Paul. He realises Damien Johnson is going to get there before him, he jumps out of the way to get away from the tackle and unfortunately there's a collision.

"My thoughts on it when I heard Steve's comments were I don't know where Paul's supposed to put his arms. He's jumped out of the way of the tackle and there's a momentum clash.

"Unfortunately it's resulted in a broken jaw. But from my perspective there's no malice. He's not looking at the player, he's just jumping to get away from the challenge.

"It's a very unfortunate incident. If I thought there was any malice or nastiness about the incident, Paul would have been made very, very aware of that."