Daily Star Sunday

Val’s glad attitude!

ISMAEL’S MENTALITY ACES

- By Neil Goulding

DELIGHTED West Brom boss Valerian Ismael saluted the “mentality” and profession­al “attitude” of his side as they claimed an impressive third win on the spin.

Goals from midfielder­s Alex Mowatt and Matt Phillips did the trick for the Baggies who, in truth, should have put the contest to bed before the break as they stretched a promising unbeaten league run to four matches.

But the visitors were made to sweat for their victory after Ben Brereton Diaz reduced Rovers’ arrears six minutes after the restart.

Amazingly the visitors hit the woodwork on four different occasions, but their excellent start ultimately reaped dividends.

“It was a difficult game but we showed the right attitude and mentality,” said Ismael.

“It was a great performanc­e – exactly what we wanted.

“We had 23 attempts on goal, we hit the crossbar twice and the post twice. We should have scored more goals.

“It was a great display but we need to continue it. We have to show the winning mentality and we need every played focused on the task.

“We’ve worked really hard from day one, the door is always open for the players. The players have clarity and that gives them confidence.”

It took the Baggies less than a minute to open their account when Mowatt scored with a stunning left-foot volley. And in the third and final minute of added-time, Phillips pounced to tap home from close-range to leave the visitors seemingly in control. But a revitalise­d Rovers responded after the break and Brereton Diaz (left) handed them a lifeline with his third goal in four games.

The Chilean hitman chased down a Joe Rothwell pass and won a 50-50 with Baggies keeper Sam Johnstone to slot home.

Frustrated Rovers boss Tony Mowbray said: “West Brom won’t be too far away from the top two this season.

“It was a really, really poor goal to give them from the kick-off. I thought we matched them for enthusiasm and competitiv­eness and I thought we were going to nick a point.

“But they are very difficult to play against. We fell a bit short.”

BLACKBURN: Kaminski 7; Carter 5, Lenihan

5, Ayala 5, Pickering 5; Travis 5, Rothwell 7 (Chapman 72nd); Buckley 6 (Dolan 72nd), Clarkson 6 (Davenport (67th) 5), Brereton Diaz 7; Gallagher 6

WEST BROM: Johnstone 6; O’Shea 6, Bartley 7, Clarke 6 (Ajayi (42nd) 5); Furlong 6, Mowatt 8, Livermore 7, Townsend 6; Phillips

6 (Diangana (62nd) 5), Robinson 7, Grant 6 (Tulloch 90th)

STAR MAN: Alex Mowatt

REF: A Harrington

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