We can stay up says West Brom boss

May 9 2009

"I think the great credit for this team is they are still trying to play their football and still be brave enough to play it.

"Today we got our rewards - as we did against Sunderland two weeks ago (a 3-0 win) but not against Tottenham last week (a 1-0 defeat).

"I think Wigan are a very good team and as athletic a team as there is in the division and it was a bit of a risk to try to take them on in an open game.

"It was an expansive game and they had more chances to score but we had more chances to score more than we did.

"We backed ourselves in a shoot-out and my preference is to do that rather than keep it tight, put everyone behind the ball and try to score from a set-piece.

"It paid off for us today."

Mowbray paid tribute to Dean Kiely, who came in for Scott Carson after he injured a finger in training, and Wigan's Richard Kingson - who replaced former Baggies goalkeeper Chris Kirkland after just nine minutes.

"I think both 'keepers were pretty good. At 38 Dean has a lot of professionalism and is very positive in our dressing room," he added.

"He is a lad who has been there and done it so when Scott damaged his finger on Thursday there was no panic or over-anxiety that Dean would come in and do the job."

Wigan boss Steve Bruce was once again unhappy with his side's inability to take their chances.

"I think that is the third time in a row now their goalkeeper was man of the match. Is is bad attacking or sloppiness in front of goal?" he said.

"We've played the last three games like that, although not so much in the first half when we played some excellent stuff and should have been out of sight.

"But if you don't take the chances at this level then ultimately you get punished."