Baggies boss Eric Ramsay hopes his players can “connect” with the home supporters at The Hawthorns when Norwich City come to town on Tuesday night (ko 7.45pm).
Albion are preparing for the midweek clash with the Canaries in the Sky Bet Championship having suffered a last-gasp defeat at the same venue against high-flying Middlesbrough in Ramsay’s opening match on Friday night.
The new head coach praised the atmosphere the home fans managed to create in the previous encounter, pointing specifically to noise inside the ground in the second period when his team came back from 2-0 down to draw level at 2-2 following efforts from Isaac Price and Jed Wallace.
Eric accepted it was a bitterly disappointing ending to his first fixture in charge, but is adamant positive “energy” on Tuesday has the potential to propel them closer to picking up a welcome win.
The gaffer said: “We’ve got to make sure we connect with the supporters again on Tuesday, just as we did on Friday when we played Middlesbrough.
“We have to feel the energy of the crowd, and that’s our responsibility as much as it is the supporters in the stadium.
“We took a lot from the game on Friday in the sense of connecting with the fans, and we’ll be pushing plenty of messages to the players about needing to do the same against Norwich.
“You could feel the intensity of the home supporters during that second half on Friday, and if the noise and the energy hits those levels, it’s certainly a huge help.
“I’m sure if we see improvement and the best parts of the first half and the best parts of the second half from Friday, that will amount to a really competitive performance on Tuesday.
“We’ll need to be competitive because Norwich are a really good team with some really good players. They’ve had a number of positive results recently and we know how intently they’ll be seeking another at The Hawthorns.
“There were plenty of positives on Friday, but we have to make sure we learn lessons from the mistakes we made. We’re all after a reaction and we’re confident we can deliver one.”
Ramsay is hopeful midfield duo Alex Mowatt and Jayson Molumby will be available for selection after missing the battle with Boro.
Neither have featured for the Baggies since the trip to Leicester at the start of January, and the boss says the pair are “touch and go”.
“We’re hopeful that there will be some improvement with Alex and Jayson.
“Both will be touch and go. Hopefully, they are short-term concerns that we can get past and they can be available for Tuesday.
“The squad will look a lot stronger with those players back.”
