James Morrison believes the Baggies didn’t quite do enough to earn all three points at Preston and has admitted his side must stop conceding the first goal in games.
Albion, who tried to control large parts of the Sky Bet Championship encounter at Deepdale on a wet and windy afternoon, fell behind when Andrew Hughes bundled home inside the box following a corner 12 minutes from the end.
However, just as they have done in recent weeks, Morrison’s men fought back and equalised just moments later – Aune Heggebø crashing the ball into the back of the net from close range.
Both teams pushed for a winner, but neither found it as the contest ended level.
The boss says he was “disappointed” overall and wants to see his group be more “ruthless” when chances to capitalise present themselves.
He explained: “I’m disappointed overall. I felt we were in control without having that killer instinct. There were a lot of opportunities around the edge of the box to find the right pass or get shots away, but we didn’t have that quality to do so or have that individual brilliance.
“We misplaced passes and there were lots of times where we were attacking with an overload and I think we could’ve capitalised on those moments.
“We should have come away from home with a 1-0 win today. We should’ve seen the game out. We have to work so hard to score, but they just seem to get an easy goal and then we’re on the back foot.
“We showed character to come back from a goal behind again, but we need to stop going behind because it’s happening far too often.
“We have to start taking advantage when we’re on top in games. I felt there were times today where we stopped doing what was bringing us success.
“Momentum swung and the home crowd were lifted after the break, but we managed to see that out. They had a ten-minute spell and then we’ve gifted them a goal.
“They were building in the game and they’d had a couple of shots which had tested Max O’Leary, but I didn’t feel like they were hurting us. We had the ball, gave it away and then from the resulting corner they’ve scored and you’re left thinking where has that come from.
“We had to go for it then, and we managed to grab the equaliser. We still had opportunities to win the game, but we lacked that spark in the final third. We’ve had many opportunities around the final third without having that success which I felt like we could have.
“There were lots of times where we were around the box and trying to open them up and I enjoyed watching us. At times, I thought we were really good. We can’t have that soft underbelly where we let teams back into the game, though.
“We didn’t do enough, ultimately. At 0-0 the other team will always have a chance and we have to be ruthless and take the game by the scruff of the neck and have that spark to go and score.”
