Speaking after his side's 2-1 win over nine-man West Brom, which moved the Tangerines into the top half of the table, Holloway made it clear he was not impressed with some sections of the media.

The 47-year-old was characteristically animated as he went in to bat for his unfashionable side, who have so far defied pre-season expectations they would be the top-tier's whipping boys.

"What I said in the week, I don't want to go down. I don't want to go down," he said. "What I said is most teams that come up go 'boing, boing'.

"If people want to give my fans the message I'm happy going down, I didn't say that. I would never say that. Listen to what I say and don't switch it around. I would never be happy going down and I don't think we will.

"Everybody else does. When you weigh up the facts, we had to build a ground, smallest budget by a mile, probably the worst team ever to come up, probably going to get the least points ever.

"Just keep adding it up. Fantastic. It's all stacked against us, I don't have a problem with that.

"But when I say something, don't switch it. I don't like that. Maybe I won't say anything in the future. Is that what you want?"

The former Plymouth boss also pointed out tonight's win, their first at Bloomfield Road this season, moved them past the lowest points haul in a season - set by Derby when they could muster just 11 points three seasons ago.

"It's a wonderful situation to get a couple of points off our chest," he added.

"Ten points, the lowest points ever, we aren't going to be that team so shut up the lot of you whoever wrote it.

"That's what I feel like. It's unfair. They judged us far too early. I think we're a good bunch of lads, we're a good team. I think we've got to improve, I think we'll try to.

"But that's 13 points in 10 games. They might be the only 13 points we get, you said we were only going to get 10.

"Please don't disrespect us."

Holloway did admit that his side's win tonight was aided by a harsh decision to send West Brom defender Pablo Ibanez off after just 11 minutes.

The defender was given his marching orders after DJ Campbell fell under the slightest of pressure and Charlie Adam smashed home the resultant penalty to fire his side ahead.

West Brom's task became even harder on 29 minutes when Gonzalo Jara saw red for an ugly two-footed lunge on Luke Varney, who then scored his side's second on the hour mark.

That should have made the night comfortable for Hollway's side but poor defending allowed Youssouf Mulumbu to pull a goal back after 85 minutes and the Baggies may have even nicked a point as they spurned two late chances.

"I believe we've got a lot to learn, and that was a game like it," Holloway admitted. "We missed 21 chances, we only hit six on target so I think I know what we'll be doing."

On Ibanez's sending off he added: "He (referee Michel Oliver) had to do it by the book and the book is wrong.

"Is it a definite goalscoring opportunity? I don't know who says that. He's got Scott Carson in front of him and he's close. So for me a yellow card at max and a penalty.

"The game was dead then. That would have been a really good game for everybody. It probably ended up that way but not for my nerves."

West Brom manager Roberto Di Matteo also questioned the decision to send off Ibanez, but was otherwise happy with his side as they stayed in the game despite their two-man disadvantage.

"I think it was probably a penalty, but I wouldn't see why it was a sending off," said Di Matteo, who also revealed the club would consider appealing the red card.

"My player didn't tackle him or anything, he was goal-side. So I couldn't see why.

"The second one there is no discussion about it. It was a red card. It was a bad tackle, probably because of the frustration of the first one.

"He made a challenge that he doesn't really have to."

He added: "It was a magnificent effort from our players, but it was just difficult when you are two men down. It's a big mountain to climb.

"The players handled themselves really well, it's a shame that we conceded the second goal because I fancied us to get a goal.

"That's what we did at the end and we nearly got the equaliser as well."