No 'toys out of pram' from West Brom skipper over lack of starts

Experienced winger Wallace, 30, clocked up 100 Baggies appearances with a cameo role in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Plymouth.

His five outings this season have all come as a substitute as Wallace, a regular starter in his two full seasons at The Hawthorns, plays second fiddle to academy graduate Tom Fellows.

Wallace, though, is focused on the benefit of the team and its charge for promotion. “I’ve started 45 games a season for seven or eight years so I’m not going to throw my toys out the pram or have a ding-dong after four or five games on the bench. If I sit and come on for 20 minutes and we win every game I’ll be a happy man at the end of the season," Wallace told BBC WM.

“Everyone in the dressing room has their individual targets, the likes of me, Barts (Kyle Bartley), my target was not how many minutes I could play, it was how could we get this club promoted?

“That’s my primary target. Tom is playing that well you could probably take any other right winger in the whole league and they’d be sat there watching, because he’s at the top of his game right now.”

Former Millwall man Wallace added: “I’ve been playing different roles in the last seven or eight months, coming on for Josh (Maja) or playing up front last season, I’ll do whatever the manager asks me and will always support him.

“There’s been that much competition for places. It’s also helped there be no complacency in the 11 because they know if we don’t get a result the manager can make five or six changes. If the lads on the bench don’t train well we’ve got Devante Cole, Stylesy. Paddy McNair not even on the bench.

“I’ve really enjoyed the first six weeks of the season. The togetherness at the training ground has always been there but now we’re starting to really get that belief we can be one of the top teams in the league.”

Wallace has won praise from boss Carlos Corberan for his selfless approach to leading Albion’s squad. “My availability is something I’ve always prided myself on, not missing games or training,” said the captain. “To get to that milestone in just over two seasons is something I’m really proud of. Most have been 90 minutes, it’s slightly different at the moment but I always know I can contribute on or off the pitch. Hopefully there are many more to come and at the end of the season we can be in a different division with some luck and if we keep working hard.

“It’s humbling, there is a group we really lean on. Barts has been unbelievable from the first game of the season. The back four at Portsmouth where we got bombarded, they put their head in. Barts has been fantastic.”