Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox give their take as Albion are held to another draw - this time against Hull City.
The Baggies were the better side in the first half, but could not get in front.
John Swift cracked the bar early in the second period, before Isaac Price scored his first goal in a Baggies shirt to break the deadlock.
But they were denied all three points when substitute Abu Kamara poked home from close range.
The Baggies were the better side in the first half, but could not get in front.
John Swift cracked the bar early in the second period, before Isaac Price scored his first goal in a Baggies shirt to break the deadlock.
But they were denied all three points when substitute Abu Kamara poked home from close range.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Baggies fans, welcome to ExpressAndStart.com. My name is Jonny Dreary, I'm here with Lewis
00:12Cox, Albion correspondent, at Hawthorns after Albion have been pegged back. They've drawn
00:17against Hull as the play-off race takes another twist. Albion in front, through Isaac Price,
00:24first goal for Albion, another good display from him today, but they were pegged back
00:29late on, could have lost the game, could have won the game, but Coxie, I've got a feeling
00:32that I've had 18 times this season. Deja vu times 18. We've been here before and it feels
00:41very, very, very, very frustrating. Yeah, familiar, eh? Although many of the draws of
00:47late have been away, haven't they? And they've been good. Two of them spring to mind, certainly.
00:54The last two, the previous two, obviously Burnley and Leeds, were hailed really, weren't
00:59they? Which is funny in a season of draws, but wow, I mean I've had a look at a few stats,
01:04you know me, Jonny. Been through England's top six tiers and nobody has drawn as many
01:10games as Albion. I've gone back actually looking through the seasons and since Albion's relegation
01:16to the Championship, what, 2018, they've already drawn more games this season in 18 than any
01:23season since, which says a lot because we're in March and there's a few games still to
01:28go. A couple of months ago, at the end of Carlos' time, we were joking about the record,
01:34weren't we? Whatever it is in a 46-game season. 24. Norwich 24, I think we looked at the record.
01:4323, 24. It's looming, isn't it? What I would say is if Albion get there and get the wrong
01:50side of 20, there's every chance, I don't know how many games left after today, is it
01:54eight? Eight left. I don't think they won't make the top six, will they? We've hailed
02:00the Burnley draw, we've hailed the Leeds draw, which really could have been three points.
02:04Like a lot of those other draws, could and should have been three points. It felt today,
02:09that's why I say similar story. Yes, some of them draws were credible draws, Leeds and
02:12Burnley, but a lot of them draws haven't had chances. And today, for me, they had a lot
02:17of territory, they've probably had two or three, or certainly two, good chances in the
02:21first half. They've hit the bar in the second half, they've knocked on the door, Isaac Price
02:25has got them in front, but before Hull, it's not one of them, before Hull scored, Albion
02:29should have been out of sight, but I thought Albion should have had a grip of the game.
02:33If they had a two-goal advantage by that point, I don't think many could have kind of happened.
02:37Yes, I know what you're saying. I think I spoke with one or two afterwards and they
02:43agreed that I think a draw was the right outcome today. I don't know.
02:47It's interesting that you disagree and I see it.
02:52It's one of them that maybe Hull deserved the point for their late flurry and late pressure,
02:56but Albion should have had that game. Like I said, not out of sight, but they should
03:01have had that game. They should have been more in command. They were in command and
03:04possession in territory. Possession doesn't win you games. It doesn't win you games, but
03:09they did turn that into chances and they should have taken them. For me, it's one of them
03:16that should have won that game, but they didn't and at the same time Hull probably
03:20deserved a point at the end. But it's just another deja vu, for me another damaging draw
03:29because we'll come onto it in a second, but the next five games Albion have left themselves
03:32having to really turn up and really do it the hard way to get in the play-offs now.
03:37I know they're still in the play-offs, but they've got five games against the sides of
03:40Albion. It just feels that games like this, games on the core brand where they should
03:48have won, could be the sting in the tail.
03:53Just quickly, we mentioned eight games left and you touched on them there. The three of
03:56them, at least off the top of my head, Sunderland, Coventry, Bristol City, I hate the cliche
04:01but they're six-pointers aren't they?
04:02The next five are against sides that are either banging the hunt or around the play-offs.
04:07It's going to have to be within those six-pointers that Albion are going to have to seal their
04:12position really. I mean go back to my old favourite start of the season, people watching
04:17this will be absolutely sick of hearing about it, but back-to-back wins.
04:20I thought you were going to say XG then?
04:22No, no, no. Back-to-back wins, September.
04:26Still haven't gone?
04:27September!
04:28Mowgli's first immediate response to the start of the press conference, I asked him what
04:34he thought about the game performance. The bottom line within what he said was ruthlessness
04:38wasn't it? He said, look my analysts told me we had 16 shots, which feels like a decent
04:43number but three on target. That first half I said to Tony who agreed that Albion were
04:50pretty decent but I feel like they played some good stuff.
04:52It feels like that's been similar in the early stages, prior to Mowgli, getting into good
04:57areas, getting crosses into the box. Molumbi's put one in there, De Grant's almost got one
05:01in there. Those types of ones that you maybe don't throw in the clear-cut chances category
05:07but they could have easily been turned into one.
05:09And the only ones that did stand out is the one Alarmstrong just put over the bar, which
05:13by his standards, in my opinion, he's probably got to do better.
05:17He's got to reset the target a bit.
05:18He was a bit delayed, Price has volleyed one over on the stroke of half-time before his
05:24actual volley that he scored. Johnson's fired one at the keeper hasn't he? We see it on
05:31paper don't we? We talk and write about it all the time. The quality for this division
05:36that Albion have, throughout the squad but certainly in midfield and attacking areas,
05:40wingers, tents, strikers, they have to be scoring more.
05:46Mowgli's point is troubling the target more and you'll get more goals. He says 16 shots
05:51fine but eight need to be on target. The ratio has to be better because if eight are on target
05:56it will probably win the score too, unless the keeper has a game in his life.
06:01But talking of keepers having good games, Albion were pretty indebted to Joe Wildsmith.
06:08Yes, he cost a big goal in midweek there. Arguably or not, not his first major error
06:17in the week at Turf Moor, his first one leading to goal. But today, two if not three saves
06:21in the last five or ten minutes to preserve a point. Mowgli said the same. It's not all
06:28brilliant and great for Mowgli for keeping him in. Mowgli has obviously supported and
06:33defended Joe Wildsmith. But I think it says a bit about the game and certainly how it
06:36finished that Hull came on strong. Hull's position on the table is a bit false. They're
06:41good under their new head coach, they've got some great results away. Mowgli said this
06:46was going to be challenging but what he said is that it was a good point at Burnley but
06:50there'll be only a good one and an even better one if we win it. He's put the emphasis on
06:55these home games, these winnable home games. The only other positive and flip side of it
06:59just as we wrap it up is that six unbeaten now. You mentioned there it's a draw against
07:03the Hull side. Yes, Albion should be winning this game but it's not like you're playing
07:06a rock bottom side in the table. That's me sitting on the other side of that so-called
07:12fence but it's six games unbeaten. Three wins and three draws. Three wins and three
07:17draws keeps a little bit of momentum behind a move in towards this run. We'll talk more
07:22about this run of games in a week beyond the international break but they are taking a
07:28little bit of form. If they'd conceded late on today then you'd think not back to square
07:34one but in a difficult situation. Starting all over again trying to build a little bit
07:40of momentum and consistency but it is there and that's probably the one positive to take
07:44from today. I do agree. The video feels a little bit doom and gloom doesn't it and Tony
07:49Moby wasn't in the happiest of moods in his post-match press so was it there but I think
07:53we've said just off camera. It wasn't your questions was it? Well it wouldn't be a surprise
08:00would it let's be honest. It's not the worst result in the world today. I think when you're
08:07looking at it overall it's a frustration. You can see my expression earlier in the comments
08:11saying Albion have to win their games. I think they should have won that game and it could
08:15come back to bite them but on the flip side it could be a good point. I'll tell you what
08:20is a negative from today. Callum Starr's injury. Obviously he missed out with a calf strain. I
08:26think that was picked up at the end of the Burnley game by all accounts and had an MRI
08:32Thursday I think and Albion got the results last night and they weren't good. They showed
08:36a strain. Obviously poor lad won't go away with Hungary which is a crying shame really after a
08:42recall for him and arguably a crying shame for us having interviewed him yesterday. We spoke to him
08:47loads about playing for Hungary and that's the way it goes on the content on the eve of the
08:53international break. He was missed today wasn't he? Hagen obviously played at Left Back. We've
08:58seen him there pretty often but Moby said something interesting in there when I asked
09:04about that and he said look in my eyes Hagen's a centre half and he can do that and he did okay
09:10at times today I thought. He's a centre half and he's a very good one. Just because he's left
09:16footed you don't have to want to be relying on him at Left Back but where's Frabata? He's nowhere
09:21is he? I would say we'll finish the live by keeping an eye out for some Moby coats on Frabata.
09:26Yeah and as Moby said let's hope they can get Stiles back from Norwich. They have a big game
09:31on the other side of it but that'll be a you know one to find out there and I guess one to watch.
09:35Yeah enjoy your break. Baggies fans unfortunately Albion didn't finish their run before that
09:39international break with a victory just a point still in the playoff still to play for
09:44but it feels a little bit frustrating. Final score here at the Hawthorns Albion 1 Hull 1.
09:49We'll be back in the week the Baggies broadcast but for now for all the rest of your reaction
09:52head over to ExpressAndStart.com