Mowbray proud of his winners

TONY MOWBRAY paid tribute to his West Bromwich Albion players after they beat 10-man QPR 2-0 to clinch the Championship title.

The Baggies’ goal difference meant they had effectively sealed promotion prior to their final-day visit to west London and goals from Kim Do-heon and Chris Brunt ensured they ended the season as champions.

“This is a proud moment,” he said. “When you think back to when we lost to Burnley on the opening day, we’ve come a long way and made a lot of progress.

“Credit to the players who have won more games and scored more goals than anyone else and rightly ended up as champions.

“There’s a great debate in football about whether it’s all about winning or all about entertaining. There’s got to be a balance and we’ve got that balance right.”

Bristol City manager Gary Johnson looked forward to meeting Crystal Palace in the play-offs after a comprehensive 3-0 win over Preston, with Lee Trundle turning in a virtuoso display yesterday.

“Lee may be coming good at just the right time, and that could be said for the team in general,” Johnson said.

“We know what to expect from any Neil Warnock side but we will go there next Saturday in confident mood.”

Watford manager Adrian Boothroyd was relieved after his side scraped into the play-offs on goal difference thanks to a 1-1 draw at Blackpool.

Watford now face a two-legged play-off semi-final against Hull and Boothroyd said: “There are a lot of bigger clubs than us who have come down, lost their momentum and ended up going down even further. We’ve got to enjoy tonight and then focus on our next game.”

Elsewhere, Coventry survived despite a final-day mauling at Charlton, Cardiff warmed up for the FA Cup final with a resounding win over Barnsley and already relegated Scunthorpe and Colchester drew 3-3.