All we can do is win - Pearson (From Daily Echo)

All we can do is win - Pearson

6:30am Tuesday 29th April 2008 in

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Nigel Pearson today starts the job of gearing his team up for one last push to save their Championship lives.

Saints last night fought out a battling 1-1 draw against West Brom at the Hawthorns to bring two other teams back into the relegation equation but Pearson's side go into the final game of the season in the bottom three.

If they lose they are down, if they draw then they need Leicester to taste defeat at Stoke, if they win they would be massively unfortunate to be relegated as four other results would have to go against them.

Saints showed they have the heart for a fight in holding the Baggies to a draw which saw them all but promoted but it was nearly so much more after Adam Lallana gave his side a late lead only for them to concede an equaliser seven minutes later.

Pearson said: "It's disappointing not to have won having gone in front however it's a point that gives us more of a fighting chance than had it have been a defeat.

"We've got two other teams now dragged back into it and it applies more pressure on others.

"What we have to make sure we do is our side of the bargain and that is to win our game because without that it's not enough.

"It's not easy going into the last game with things up in the air in terms of it being out of our hands to a certain extent but we take the positives out of the performance in terms of the commitment and application of the players.

"I'm delighted they've got something out of the game but it will be very tough still."

With so much resting on the Sheffield United game Pearson feels Saints have an "obligation" to fight for a result but has faith in his players.

"I think when the stakes are so high we have an obligation," he said.

"We have players capable of putting in big performances and we need to do it week in week out but it's not the time to go into the whole season.

"At this moment in time there's only one important game left and it's vital we get the right performance and more importantly the right result."

He added: "It's not easy when you come here because they're a very good passing side and we had to try and limit the number of times Greening was on the ball and Saganowski's job was to lead the line and get around Greening when we were out of possession.

"There is always a chance of knicking it when you stay in the game.

"Their goals had a bit of fortunate about it but they missed one or two chances so it was a fair result but I'm not really interested in it being fair - three points would have been huge for us."