Three days after tasting the bitter disappointment of an FA Cup semi-final defeat by Portsmouth, despite being the better side at Wembley, West Bromwich Albion experienced the opposite away to Blackpool and moved to the top of the Coca-Cola Championship with a victory that they did not deserve thanks to three goals in the final nine minutes.

Having gone behind to a first-half goal from Ben Burgess, Tony Mowbray’s side struggled to contain a Blackpool team who have serious concerns about relegation. But Kevin Phillips came off the bench to score twice in three minutes and Ishmael Miller added a third with four minutes left.

His team may be at the summit with five games remaining, but Mowbray is unlikely to crack a smile before a place in the Barclays Premier League is guaranteed.

“There’s a real determination about our dressing-room at the moment and there’s some real characters in there,” the manager said. “They were desperate to make sure they didn’t fall over this potential banana skin, but no one will be getting carried away.”

West Brom’s poor defending from set-pieces had already been exposed when Burgess headed against the bar and he opened the scoring ten minutes before half-time thanks to another free kick from Stephen Crainey.

After the break, Blackpool continued to pose the greater threat but Phillips converted a penalty after Crainey clipped Carl Hoefkens and added another from barely a yard out after Miller’s powerful run down the right. Miller added a third with a fine lob three minutes from time.