Tony Mowbray deflated after West Brom settle for point
Mar 17 2009 by Robert Tanner, Birmingham Post
It may have been only West Bromwich Albion’s sixth point away from home this season and their first clean sheet since September but manager Tony Mowbray confessed his side were “gutted” they didn’t claim all three points at the Boleyn Ground.
Albion created the more clear-cut chances than West Ham United, who are chasing a Uefa Cup spot, but once again they failed to display a ruthless streak and were left to rue missed opportunities.
Albion now go into back-to-back home games against Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City which they must win if they are going to drag themselves to safety in the closing stages of the season and complete an unlikely great escape.
“Is it two points dropped? I think the players think it is,” said Mowbray. “They are sitting in the dressing room pretty deflated and pretty down. It was an opportunity for us to grab the game.
“I have seen West Ham a couple of times this season and for whatever reason they lacked that spark they showed on those occasions. It was a real opportunity for us to take the points and yet it slipped through our fingers.
“We are a bit deflated but if we win the next two games, both at home against Bolton and Stoke, it will look like a decent point.
“If we can get six points from the next two games then we will wait and see.”
Albion believe they had a clear penalty claim turned down in the first half when Hammers skipper Lucas Neill pulled back Paul Robinson by the shirt but referee Mark Halsey waved away their appeals.
“I think Paul felt he should have had a definite penalty,” Mowbray said. “He feels hard done by.
“Once or twice this season it has happened to us and I go back to the Blackburn game when a shirt tug by Ryan Donk was given as a penalty.
“There was a shirt tug and is it a penalty or is it not? The referee is looking right at it.
“It was a penalty as far as I could see.
“I like Mark Halsey. He doesn’t appear to referee with an ego but he got that one wrong.”
