GARY Megson's changing expressions summed up his maelstrom of emotions after The Hawthorns relegation battle finished all square.
The Baggies' boss, who billed the duel with Wanderers as the biggest game of his Premiership career, frowned at the loss of two vital survival points.
But the worry lines vanished as he applauded his players for refusing to be denied and rescuing a point in injury-time at the end of a barnstorming second half.
"The way the game has gone it seems as though we have won a point," Megson acknowledged. "The reality is that we have lost two.
"But, in all my time here, I don't think I have ever been more proud of a 45-minute display than that.
"I'm not talking about the football we played but the effort and the will to win they put in.
"As a manager you really can't ask any more of your players than my team gave me."
Albion have scored only 20 goals in 26 games since their elevation to the Premiership and it was clear to see why as they struggled to turn their second half dominance into something tangible. Megson listed the missed opportunities, complaining: "We've missed sitter upon sitter. All the pressure has been at their end of the pitch and the goal was just reward for the way we played in the second half.
"Sean Gregan's hit the inside of the post and Danny Dichio and Jason Roberts have missed from inside the six-yard box."
Visibly relieved to be left with only four points to make up on Wanderers instead of seven, the West Brom boss says there is still a long way to go in the battle to beat the drop. "There will be lots of ups and and downs in the weeks to come," he predicted.
"We've got four points out of a possible six and I've got to be pleased with that."
Megson was even-handed in his assessment of the influence the two goalkeepers had on the result.
He exonerated Russell Hoult of any blame for the Wanderers' goal by describing Youri Djorkaeff's shot, which led to Henrik Pedersen's 18th minute opener as "well placed" and rejected his own players' claims that Jussi Jaaskelainen should have been sent off for up-ending Danny Dichio.
"The referee got it right," he said, "It was a great foul by Jaaskelainen!"
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