West Bromwich 2 Blackburn Rovers 0: No regrets as Greening lifts Baggies

West Bromwich Albion's Riverside-reared midfielder highlighted an excellent contribution by scoring a beauty to put Blackburn Rovers to flight and lift his side over Boro just above the bottom three. Then he juiced up a vital meeting of the clubs at The Hawthorns later this month by saying he was not surprised by his old team's struggles.

"A few of the boys are a bit unhappy there with McClaren's way of doing things," he said. "He is a really good coach but some coaches do not make good managers." Ouch!

Greening and his colleagues were just as forthright on the pitch in establishing another toe-hold on the climb towards safety. Survival this year would ensure them a fourth season out of five in the top flight and, on this evidence, they are well on the way.

Their disposal of the Premiership's form team was not just a triumph for their customary endeavour but also down to more than a sprinkling of flair - demonstrated by Junichi Inamoto's defence-splitting pass for goal number one and further exemplified by Nigel Quashie on his debut.

Kevin Campbell had already missed badly from close in with Blackburn giving the impression of a side still dining out on scoring four against Manchester United. Fed by the Japan star, though, the skipper's control and finish were unerring. A goal on his 36th birthday was perhaps not the biggest story concerning a footballer called Campbell but provided an early marker for a thoroughly convincing Albion performance.

Quashie, having suffered relegations with Queen's Park Rangers, Nottingham Forest and Southampton, made a favourable impression as a cultured addition to Albion's midfield

"You can see it in the players' eyes that they really want to do well," he said. "There is a hunger and desire here, and I want to be part of that. When I first walked into the club, I could see how they had pulled it off last year. They were dead and buried but they dug in and kept going. The spirit is absolutely fantastic."

Blackburn, unbeaten in the last six League games, normally have the same qualities in abundance.

Here, though, their waywardness was typified by the Michael Gray blunder that helped Greening join Campbell on the two-goal mark for the season.

"We started sloppily and never looked like getting back into it," said their manager, Mark Hughes. "It's frustrating because we know we can do a lot better. We didn't start well. We conceded two poor goals from our point of view and then we never really looked like getting back into it.

"We had a lot of play in the second half but, given the situation West Brom find themselves in, with them fighting for their lives, they had something to protect and they did it very well.

"We just didn't display any urgency and maybe that was as a consequence of our efforts on Wednesday [when they beat Manchester United], but that would be too easy an excuse to make."

Goals: Campbell (6) 1-0; Greening (32) 2-0

West Bromwich Albion (4-4-2): Kuszczak; Albrechtsen, Davies, Clement, Robinson; Inamoto, Wallwork, Quashie (Carter, 78), Greening; Campbell (Ellington, 66), Horsfield (Kozak, 86). Substitutes not used: Martinez, Kirkland (gk).

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): Friedel; Neill, Todd, Nelson, Gray; Reid, Savage, Tugay (Emerton, h-t), Pedersen (Peter, 76); Kuqi (Sinama-Pongolle, 54), Bentley. Substitutes not used: Enckelman (gk), Mokoena.

Referee: C Foy (Merseyside).

Booked: West Bromwich Wallwork; Blackburn Peter.

Man of the match: Greening.

Attendance: 23,993.