Allardyce hails point as he awaits reinforcements

West Brom 0 West Ham 0

Allardyce was without seven first team players and only able to name six substitutes at The Hawthorns.

But he was full of praise for the way his side fought to claim a share of the spoils.

Allardyce said: “You could probably say it’s seven injuries because we haven’t seen Alou Diarra since he joined us because he tore a thigh muscle.

“That, on top of the other six, made it very difficult for us to come here. That’s why we only had six subs on the bench.

“The only two really recognised players who played any part, we put on at the end, Modibo Maiga and James Tomkins. The rest of the lads are development squad players.

“But we’ve earned our point today. You know when you’ve got that many injuries, you’re always worried as a manager because you wonder whether you’re team’s going to be able or capable of holding out.

“Certainly on today’s performance, the way they defended, we didn’t create as much as we wanted today.

“We tried as hard as we could to do that but our defensive qualities today were exceptionally good.”

When asked if the shortage of players meant he needs reinforcements in January, Allardyce said: “If we get them all fit, no. But we always need a bit of help as a manager. We’re never going to turn one down are we? Or two! You’ve always got to try. If there’s anybody there who can enhance or better the team, then we would like to go for them.

“Whether that’s short term, long term, it depends when the window opens who is actually available.”

Baggies boss Steve Clarke saw his side end a run of three successive defeats and admitted: “I thought a draw was just about the right result. We didn’t quite do enough to get the three points.

“As the home team, the onus is on us to try and win it. We tried to win it but nothing really fell for us.

“We spoke before the game about defending well, to aim for the clean sheet, which we got, which is good, because we haven’t had one for a while.

“That is one positive aspect. It does stop the run of defeats which is another positive aspect and it’s another point towards the totals we are trying to achieve. But there are not many questions to ask on that game are there?”

Clarke admitted he had made a mistake with his 4-4-2 formation in the opening 45 minutes.

He said: “Maybe it was my fault in the first half because we went 4-4-2 and it didn’t quite click. But when we moved back to our normal system [in the] second half [4-2-3-1] we looked a little more lively.”

WEST BROM: Myhill, Jones, McAuley, Olsson, Popov, Brunt, Morrison, Mulumbu, Gera (Lukaku 75), Odemwingie, Long (Rosenberg 83).

WEST HAM: Jaaskelainen, Demel (Tomkins 81), Reid, Collins, O’Brien, Noble, O’Neil, Jarvis (Maiga 76), Nolan, Taylor, Cole.

Referee: Phil Dowd.