West Bromwich Albion manager Slaven Bilic has called on his players to stay positive amid the race for promotion from the Championship this season.
The Baggies had gone to the top of the table last week, after recording a win over Derby, however, Leeds regained the spot after thrashing Stoke.
West Brom’s 1-1 draw with Blackburn at the weekend allowed Leeds to increase the gap, and third-placed Brentford to cut the cushion to third place.
Speaking after the game, Bilic has told his players to keep their heads up, despite the disappointing result.
“That is what I have told the guys - stay positive,” he said, as reported by BirminghamLive . “I’m not happy with how we played the last 20 minutes after we conceded.
“After that going forward we were okay but we were always going to be. We lost shape, we stretched the game, the game became stretched too much and that is why they had those couple of chances.
“Up until then, as I said, I was very, very pleased with the performance, but you have to kill the game off. We didn’t.
“We didn’t create a number of good chances - we created great chances, but unfortunately if you don’t score that second goal there is always a possibility - against a team with Blackburn’s quality - that you can concede. We did concede. To be fair, we had a couple of chances but they had some great chances.”
The Baggies boss again reiterated his message of positivity to his players and the importance of not focussing too much on either Leeds’ or Brentford’s results.
“It doesn’t make it easier of course,” Bilic reasoned. “But we were in a position - and we still are - where we only have to focus on our game,” he added.
“We have to concentrate on our game.”
