West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper Dean Kiely has issued a reality check to the Baggies fans who expect their team to roll over opponents easily at The Hawthorns.

The Republic of Ireland international hit out at Albion's critics who expect them to ease visiting teams aside when they visit The Hawthorns and warned them to expect a few uncharacteristically ugly games during the vital season climax.

"Jonathan Greening got pulled up in the week and a fan asked why we couldn't beat a Neil Warnock Crystal Palace side the other week?" said the 37-year-old following Albion's disappointing 4-1 home defeat to relegation-threatened Leicester City on Saturday.

"Our opponents are going to make it very difficult for us here. Name a team that wants to turn up at The Hawthorns and have an open game of football? I'll tell you, nobody.

"I knew for a fact Warnock's side would come here and he would say 'get in their faces, knock them over and make it incredibly hard for them.' That is what they did. Teams are going to make if difficult. Rightly so, I would do the same against a side with our record.

"There is pressure if the fans are jumping around and are disappointed that we are not three or four ahead. We are a victim of our own success sometimes. If you think in this division that it is going to be a feast of football every time you turn up at The Hawthorns then you are sadly mistaken."

The visit of Ian Holloway's Leicester side illustrated Kiely's point but he admitted the result could have been much different if referee Darren Deadman and taken a different view of some of the game's key moments, especially the 35th-minute sending-off of Albion striker Luke Moore.

"I was 90 yards away from the sending-off but I said to the ref in the most respectful way I could as we came off at half-time that there were two tackles in the first half, Steven Howard's on Barnett and then Luke's," Kiely said.

"Both looked mistimed forwards' tackles on defenders. One got a yellow and one got a red. I told the ref I thought the two tackles were quite similar but they have had different outcomes.

"Up until the sending-off I thought we were comfortable. The sending-off changed the game. I think we all took a step backwards to protect what we had got and they have got back into the game.

"I think when half-time came it was important for us to regroup. The penalty killed us and then Leon Barnett going off and leaving us down to nine men made it incredibly physically tough for the lads."