Romaine Sawyers believes it is impossible for Albion to get through the Sky Bet Championship slog without a “bad day at the office.”
The Baggies are back from the midweek excursion to Wigan relieved with a point from the 1-1 draw on an uncomfortable night for Slaven Bilic’s team.
They were grateful to Charlie Austin’s goalscoring instincts, equalising from a close range indirect free-kick with Wigan’s entire team on the goal-line, to keep the unbeaten run going as they face a quick turnaround for Saturday’s lunchtime derby at Birmingham City.
It’s all part of the gruelling schedule – the St Andrew’s clash will be Albion’s third game inside six games – Sawyers and his team-mates must battle through and the ever-calm midfielder suggests that casts important context on last night’s below-par performance.
“We’ve set ourselves a standard over the season and we didn’t meet it against Wigan,” said Romaine.
“A number of things have contributed to why but the main thing is we got away with one. We lacked energy from the start and the quality wasn’t there.
“It wasn’t due to any changes or personnel which people might want to highlight. But we didn’t start right and it had a domino effect on the performance.
“We spoke at half time at what it could be but the end result was that we didn’t get to the standards we have set ourselves.”
Romaine was ful of praise for the key contributions of keeper Sam Johnstone, who made several fine saves, and Austin.
He added: “Sam kept us in it with double save in the first half and for the goal the ball moves a lot – it was bit of a freak one.
“Charlie is getting the goals. He’s never short of confidence or belief and the type of finish he produced proved that again.
“It’s one where we can dust ourselves off and go again on Saturday. We know Saturday’s game is big for the fans but it’s one more game for us to try to win.
“That’s the good thing about this league. Take the point, get home and another opportunity comes to get back to the level we know we are capable of.
“It wasn’t a wake-up call because no-one is getting carried away in our dressing room and
and we’re going to have bad days at the office over 46 games.”
