Steven Reid hails Albion's spirit

Steven Reid has hailed Albion's fighting spirit after they almost pulled off a miracle fightback with nine men at Blackpool.

The Baggies' utility man went close to an unlikely equaliser at Bloomfield Road despite his team trailing 2-0 with a two-man disadvantage.

And Reid was full of praise for the attitude of Roberto Di Matteo's men, who played for more than an hour with nine players against the Seasiders' 11.

Reid said: "We've got a real never-say-die attitude. Now we have to brush this under the carpet and look forward to Manchester City on Saturday.

"There were more positives than negatives from this game for us. We went down to nine men and played some decent football, so there's no reason why we can't get a good result on Sunday and go on another decent run.

"It's difficult when you go down to nine men but the lads showed great spirit and character to stay in it.

"When you go 2-0 down with nine men you might think you're dead and buried, but Youssouf put away a great goal.

"I had one chance right at the death and Jerome Thomas had a great chance."

Reid refused to criticise referee Michael Oliver despite the 25-year-old - the Premier League's youngest ever official - sending off Pablo Ibanez controversially after 11 minutes for a foul on DJ Campbell before showing Gonzalo Jara a red card for a lunge on Luke Varney.

The former Republic of Ireland international said: "I will leave it for others to comment. He has actually been impressive and he is a decent young referee coming through.

"The club will make a decision on whether there is an appeal.

"But he is one of the better referees in the Premier League."