Mikey Johnston delivers West Brom squad 'belief' verdict to boss
Albion's players believe they can win all five remaining games to sneak back into the play-offs at the 11th hour.
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Head coach Tony Mowbray revealed on Thursday, in the wake of three defeats, that winger Mikey Johnston said the misfiring squad still have faith in knitting five wins together, despite a struggle for regular wins all season.
The Baggies boss also spoke during his press conference about how he had been encouraged by the general level of performance in recent games, where the statistics back up Albion being the more dangerous side against strong outfits including Sunderland and Bristol City.
"Mikey Johnston came off the training ground today next to me and I was talking to him and he said 'the dressing room believes we can win all of them gaffer'," Mowbray told BBC WM.
"In my mind they would only do that if they felt what we were doing on the grass and in matches they were enjoying. They know they were better than Sunderland, know in the second half they got on top of Bristol City. Yet we lost those matches."
A return of four wins from the final five matches would take Albion to 69 points, with a rough average of around 70 points generally acknowledged as enough to finish in the play-off places.
Bristol City and Coventry, currently fifth and sixth, are six and five points clear of Albion respectively so there is very little room for error for Mowbray's side - though Coventry follow Saturday's visitors Watford as next up for the Baggies, at the CBS Arena in a Good Friday clash next week.
Albion have failed to win consecutive games this season since September. With two away games left, at Coventry and lowly Cardiff, the Baggies have managed just one win on their travels in more than six months.
"They have to keep that belief and understand that football is cruel sometimes, it can kick you where it hurts," added The Hawthorns head coach. "But I think they believe we're doing the right things, we just have to fine-tune that. When the ball comes across the six-yard line and the striker's at full stretch and not everybody is waiting for a cut-back. We need to score the scruffy goals.
"I was showing them the goal we scored at Millwall, got to the byline almost and it hit the defender and went in. It's those killer areas.
"Mikey Johnston said to me today the dressing room still believes and he didn't have to say that. I think the performance and intensity level on Saturday will show we're still with the belief to win some football matches."
