Mowbray knows West Brom need help on precarious path

Apr 29 2009 by Robert Tanner, Birmingham Post

You have to tell them the positives and keep them going. When they don’t play well you have to tell them as well. Generally the message is positive and it continues to be positive.

“We go to Spurs trying to win a match that may make things exciting. If we win then maybe it will throw a few nerves into a few other teams, but we can’t affect what others do. I went to Blackburn on Sunday and they did their job and if everyone wins their games it won’t matter. We could win all four games and it still won’t matter, we won’t have enough points. We have to just try to win our games. It was nice for the players to get some rewards, of course. It is trying to marry the performance and the result together and we got that right at the weekend.

“For the supporters as well, who again turned out in huge numbers and were very supportive to the team – it is great for them to enjoy a victory. We haven’t had as many as we would have liked this year to enjoy.”

Albion could be without midfielders James Morrison and Graham Dorrans, and defender Abdoulaye Meite at Spurs. Morrison has an infected heel problem that kept him out of the Sunderland win and could rule him out of the rest of the season. Dorrans has a severely bruised foot which is also painful and will be monitored throughout the week. Meite has a hamstring strain.

There was better news for defender Shelton Martis and striker Chris Wood. Mowbray says the club will take up the one-year option on the 26-year-old Martis’ contract at the end of the season after his impressive recent performances. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Wood was awarded the young men’s player of the yeear award at yesterday’s New Zealand Football awards luncheon in Auckland.