Brunt dedicates victory to fantastic fans

Chris Brunt thanked the Baggies faithful for their unrivalled support with the midfielder dedicating the win to Albion's 2,800 travelling fans. Visiting fans invaded Loftus Road yesterday with various super heroes in full force roaring on Albion to their first championship in more than 80 years.

The Northern Ireland international not only scored the goal on Monday night against Southampton which all but secured promotion for the Baggies, he also guaranteed the title thanks to a delightful free-kick in the 77^th minute to cap off a memorable week for the former Sheffield Wednesday man - who also saw his first child, Charlie, born on Thursday morning.

"They were both good goals," Brunt admitted.

"The one at Rangers was the better goal but it is a close call as to which of them means the most.

"It is brilliant to win the title.

"That was our main aim when we went to QPR.

"We wanted to do it for all the fans who travelled and were brilliant.

"It was a nice way to round everything off.

"It feels a lot better to have a winners' medal rather than a runners-up medal.

"It's a great feeling.

"It is what we have been playing for all season and what we have worked hard for.

"It's a massive relief to get there on one hand but on another it is a massive achievement and it is fantastic for everybody.

"I'm absolutely delighted.

"I didn't get much sleep Wednesday, Thursday or Friday to be fair!

"But mother and baby are both doing well at home and I was delighted to get the goal.

"That was for them."

Albion's £3 million pound summer signing has made a rapid rise through the divisions after initially being released by Middlesbrough before joining the Owls, and is now relishing the prospect of top-flight football.

"We have played really well through most of the season and we got our rewards in the end," Brunt continued.

"We cracked a couple of times a couple of months ago and a few people said we had gone.

"But credit to all the staff and the boys.

"We dug right in and got ourselves back on track.

"Being called 'the best team in the division' all season was a hard tag to have.

"Teams want to beat you every week.

"A lot of teams raised their game against us.

"But we did absolutely brilliantly in the last few weeks to get ourselves the title.

He added: "The away wins at Wolves and Norwich stick out as great performances along the way.

"They were turning points.

"A few teams maybe expected us to drop points.

"But strength of character and the quality of our squad saw us through.

"A lot of boys in the dressing room and on the pitch at QPR have not featured too much this season.

"But they are all important because everyone in the team knew that if they didn't perform there were boys waiting to step in.

"That's a good thing to have.

"It is something we will definitely need next season.

"Hopefully, we will do ourselves justice.

"Looking at the Portsmouth game in the FA Cup semi-final, we didn't look out of place at all.

"We matched a team in seventh place in the Premiership and that's the target to aim for.

"If we can achieve something like that it would be absolutely great."