Dara O’Shea confident West Brom can respond from setback

Carlos Corberan’s side tasted more disappointment on the road in Friday’s lacklustre 2-0 reverse at St Andrew’s which left them down in ninth and out of the Championship play-off places come the end of the weekend’s action.

Albion conceded early in each half, to Hannibal Mejbri’s disguised free-kick and Krystian Bielik’s unchallenged header, both calling into question stand-in goalkeeper David Button.

It wasn’t the ending to the week Spaniard Corberan had hoped for after committing his future at The Hawthorns with a new two-year contract extension in the wake of interest from his former club Leeds.

“It was disappointing, we obviously don’t want to lose any games and coming here especially, we know what it means to our fans and our club,” said captain O’Shea, who made his 100th Albion appearance on Friday.

“It’s a derby, we can’t be losing those games.

“But I think we need to try to look past it, in a way, we know we weren’t at our best, for whatever reason, maybe the pitch but we can’t make any excuses.

“They score two set-pieces and hadn’t caused us a whole lot of trouble with shots on goal. It’s one of those games that is behind us now.

“We know what we can do, we know what it takes, we know what this league is like. Sometimes these results happen, it doesn’t justify it, it is what it is, we’re really disappointed.

The Baggies do, however, have an immediate opportunity to rectify results at home to play-off rivals Blackburn on Wednesday as ninth hosts eighth with just a point separating the two sides.

While away form has been tricky for Albion of late after defeats at Burnley, Bristol City in the FA Cup and Blues, the Baggies have been almost perfect on home turf under Corberan.

Rovers visit hoping to spoil the hosts’ run of six straight league wins without conceding a goal – a sequence which dates back to the first half of Corberan’s first match in charge against Sheffield United.

The last time Albion managed six home league shutouts in a row was 1977 and that run included just four wins. Albion’s current crop’s record is actually seven wins without conceding if including the FA Cup replay against Chesterfield.

Irish centre-back O’Shea, 23, continued a proud run of his own at Blues on Friday.

He lined up against City loan defender Auston Trusty, from Arsenal, as two of just three players from the second tier to have played every minute of league football this season. It was also a milestone evening as the academy graduate clocked up 100 senior games.

O’Shea, however, is only focused on Albion’s response in midweek.

He said: “They had a good start and put pressure on us by playing long balls, with a home crowd it adds a bit more.

“But we should be dealing with it better. We know what we need to do better.

“With the quick turnaround for Wednesday, it’s a good opportunity to get back to what we’ve been doing. Today was an off-day.

“Conceding set-pieces is a pet peeve of us as a back lot, it shouldn’t be happening.”