GREATEST ESCAPE
Tall order, but Baggies can pull off the impossible like us, says legend Robbo
PAUL ROBINSON knows all about great escapes – and scoring a dramatic injury-time derby equaliser.
The former West Brom full-back was part of the 2005 squad that somehow clawed themselves clear of danger – and his last-gasp leveller at Villa Park has gone down in Baggies’ folklore.
Albion’s charge up the table, from being bottom of the pile at Christmas, was capped by sealing survival on the last day.
And the point the left-back earned with his header went a long way.
The seeds for recovery were sewn during a bonding trip to Florida that hit the right note as far as boss Bryan Robson (below) was concerned.
Robinson said: “The gaffer probably sensed the negativity around the training ground and put the idea of going away to owner Jeremy Peace.
“It’s sometimes difficult to describe to people, but when you’re losing games you sometimes don’t want be around people at the training ground. It’s easy to escape. You can shoot off home early. That’s life.
“But Jeremy said to Bryan: ‘I trust you’, and it’s probably the best money he’s ever spent because of what happened.
“The repercussions would have fallen on Bryan’s shoulders.
“But when we were away we spent the time together. The gaffer set the times when we would eat, train and have a drink.
“Rules were in place. And when
we were out there, we bonded. Things were said. We felt there were some half-hearted performances being put in. And we came back as a different group.
“So, leading up to the Villa game, we’d picked up some good results – we won at Charlton, beat Everton at The Hawthorns.
“We were slowly gathering momentum and putting pressure on the teams around us.”
Villa had taken the lead through Darius Vassell and it looked like a derby defeat would make the survival job that much harder.
Robinson added: “We’d given as good as we had got, but we were one down in the 93rd minute, and I can still hear the gaffer shouting: ‘Gamble, Robbo.’
“I glided up the pitch. I wasn’t sprinting. Villa’s players didn’t see me as a threat. Zoltan Gera played in Riccardo Scimeca, who hit this ‘‘ ball over. It deflected off the head of Mark Delaney and I knew that I had blindsided Villa’s defenders. They didn’t have a clue I was there.
“As soon as that deflection hit his head, my eyes lit up. I thought: ‘I’m in.’ I connected perfectly. What a time to score your first goal for the club, eh?
“We were buzzing afterwards, but we didn’t realise what a good result it was until we got on the coach. We looked at the Premier League table and we had jumped out of the bottom three.
“The coach started rocking, the music was blaring, the lads were celebrating – not getting too carried away because we still had some big games ahead of us.
“But it was massive for us because we’d been bottom for practically the whole season.
“Mentally, it was huge. We had a psychological advantage.”
Robinson said the current Baggies crop face a tall order if they are to pull off their improbable act.
He said: “We had two players who came in during the January window who had a massive effect.
“Kevin Campbell helped sort the dressing room and Kieran Richardson didn’t turn up on loan from Manchester United and toss it off. He came in with the right attitude and quality on the ball.
“It’s looking like a tall order for them. But they have improved, too, since January and, theoretically, there are still enough points to play for.
“The results at Chelsea and against Southampton would have given them huge belief.
“And if you can stick in there, you just never know.”