Steve Bruce: West Brom still have too much to do
Steve Bruce played down Albion's chances of promotion despite his side moving to within five points of the play-offs with a win over Blackpool.
Karlan Grant's stoppage-time winner saw the Baggies beat Neil Critchley’s side at The Hawthorns.
In a game of few clear-cut chances, Andy Carroll gave Albion a first-half lead before Marvin Ekpiteta levelled for Blackpool after the re-start.
But it was the Baggies who snatched an even game right at the end when Grant fired in from close range for his 15th goal of the season.
The win – Bruce's fourth in 13 games in charge of the Baggies – saw his side move to 11th in the Championship table, five points outside the play-offs with four games still to play.
The boss, though, still feels Albion have a mountain to climb if they are to finish in the top six.
“The gap is five points which is unbelievable,” Bruce said.
“It's what if? We are going to ask that all the time. What if?
“Who knows - in football anything can happen. But I still think we have too much to do. It's still what if? The frustration is there for all to see.”
Albion saw fellow play-off hopefuls Sheffield United, Nottingham Forest, Middlesbrough and Blackburn all drop points on Good Friday.
The Baggies – who won just one of 12 Championship games from December through to February - travel to the City Ground to face Forest on Monday.
But while Bruce has played down his team’s chances, he does expect the teams above his side to keep dropping points.
“When the daffodils come up you start to see strange results,” the 61-year-old continued.
“The hardest thing in football is getting over the line. All sorts of nerves come into it.
“All of a sudden the pitches are a bit more lively. The sunshine is out.
“The difficult part is always getting it done. All the teams are having a wobble. It's pretty normal that.
“But we had a wobble for too long so we can only blame ourselves.”
Bruce felt, overall, his side were a touch fortunate to beat Blackpool.
“It was nice to win, whether we deserved it or not is debatable but it's nice to win,” he added.
“The one thing I can say about them is they don't give up. Is it three, four, five times now that we've scored late to win or rescue something?
“It's always nice to score in the last minute of course and it was a good finish from Granty.”
During the Blackpool game, Callum Robinson was booed by the home crowd after appearing to hold back from a challenge.
And Bruce revealed he substituted the forward a few minutes later to protect him.
"I think the frustration of the whole crowd base was there in that moment," Bruce said.
"That is what we have to deal with at the minute.
"This is a club that was in the Premier League last year so the supporters will demand we are at the top and we're not.
"That frustration is there for everybody to see and we have to manage it.
"My job is to get that trust back. But I took him off to protect him.
"It's never nice to hear. But I think it could have been anybody - in that moment it was the frustration of the supporters which I full understand."
