Defender Callum Styles says Albion just need to find a ‘killer instinct’ to reach the heights they can achieve this season.
Albion put on another dominant display in the early part of the campaign, recording over 70 per cent possession against Charlton Athletic on Wednesday night.
However, they were forced to settle for a point when Callum’s piledriver from the edge of the box was cancelled out by Tyreece Campbell's close-range finish 10 minutes later.
Speaking at full-time, Styles said he was pleased with the start Albion have made, but highlighted the need to kill teams off when in a commanding position.
“We’ve made a strong start to the season, but we wanted to start even more strongly,” he said. “It’s just about that final little bit.
“The first half against Boro was really good, but then we got tired. Tonight, I thought the lads were brilliant, but we just need that bit of killer instinct as the final bit and we’ll be all good.
“We had loads of possession and moved them out of position really well, but it was just that cutting edge pass or cross or shot that we were missing.
“I think we had 71 per cent possession and I think that shows just how much control we had tonight.”
Callum’s goal was his first in over a season, with the left-back having last netted on the final day of the 2024/25 campaign.
“It has been a while since I’ve scored because I didn’t score last season, so it has been a long time coming and it was a nice finish if I say so myself,” he smiled.
“I had a shot in the first half as well – just getting my angles right, and on this one I took a touch because I felt I had more time.
“I hit it and was really happy to see it go in.
“But we wanted to do more in their box. We’re at home and we want this to be a fortress. I think Charlton will be buzzing with a draw today, but we need to test their keeper more, especially with the amount of possession we have – we’ve got to put that to more use.”
“Charlton are tough to play against because we were getting into good areas, but they always had six or seven giants in the box ready to defend it.
“We’ve got to work on trying to break things like that down and find ways to get through the sheer size of teams like that.
“But we’ve got time to work on it. The games come thick and fast because we’ve got another on Saturday, but we’ll do our analysis and look to be better on Saturday.
“There’s loads we’ve done well - it’s just that final bit of execution, whether that’s a pass, a shot or a cross to break a defence down and get a big chance.
“It’s early on in the season, so we’ll get to work on it.”
