Conor Townsend: West Bromwich Albion defender says squad content with league place
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Conor Townsend has played more than 150 games for West Brom since joining from Scunthorpe in July 2018
West Bromwich Albion defender Conor Townsend says the squad are feeling okay about where they are in the Championship heading into the international break.
The Baggies are seventh in the table, only outside the play-off places on goal difference, following Saturday's 2-1 defeat at in-form Southampton.
The loss was Albion's first in their last five matches.
"We played some good stuff and will take the positives," Townsend said.
"We created a lot of chances in the second half but everyone could see what type of game it was and, in my opinion, looked the more likely to score but that's the Championship.
"We lost and that's all that matters but we've got a bit of a break now and come back and look to put it right."
Albion's defeat at St Mary's put an end to their run of three straight wins and means they have now lost all three matches before this season's international breaks.
But after defeats by Huddersfield at the start of September and West Midlands rivals Birmingham City in early October, the Baggies took points from their first games back when the Championship resumed.
And Townsend is confident they can do the same this time when they take on early title-contenders Ipswich Town at The Hawthorns on 25 November.
"We've lost every game before the international breaks, which is obviously not great, but we've got good results in the first games back," the 30-year-old added.
"If we can come back from the break and put a run together like we just have there's no reason why we can't be in the play-offs."
Albion's impressive surge up the table under boss Carlos Corberan, with three wins and a draw before the trip to Southampton, has been achieved without the firepower of top-scorer John Swift, who has been out since October with a calf injury, and the unavailability of Daryl Dike and Josh Maja.
With Swift and Maja potentially back in full training during the next fortnight, and Dike and midfielder Adam Reach also making good progress from Achilles and quad injuries respectively, Townsend says their returns will be "massive" for the squad.
"The squad at one point was threadbare. I think it gives us a real boost - we believe in what we've got in the dressing room and in what the manager wants us to do," he said.
"We've seen a lot of good things this season - and some things to improve on - but we're okay with where we are and hopefully we can go on another run like we did and push ourselves right into it."