Craig Dawson reassured at West Brom

West Brom boss Roy Hodgson today reassured Craig Dawson he is still in contention for starts and warned Gabriel Tamas he faces a fight to regain his place.

Tamas is available for Saturday's Premier League trip to Sunderland after serving a three-game suspension, following his elbow on?James Vaughan at Norwich.

His absence has allowed Dawson to make a solid Premier League debut at Swansea, before making way for Gareth McAuley to claim man of the match honours in his top-flight bow against Fulham on Saturday.

But, despite leaving Dawson out after just one game, Hodgson insisted the former Rochdale youngster remains in his thoughts, while Tamas might now be made to wait for a recall.

The Hawthorns head coach said: "It was hard to leave Craig out. What McAuley has over Craig is more experience and a little bit more composure.

"That's understandable given that Craig has played in non-league and League One. But as we could see in yesterday's reserves game, he's still a good centre-half."