'The scenes would have been beautiful' - James Morrison so proud of West Brom effort in latest draw
Gusty Albion battled hard until the death in 100 minutes against Millwall as the Lions climbed into second - but neither side could break the deadlock.
Exhausted boss James Morrison hailed his Albion troops for giving their all until the end in an entertaining goalless draw against high-flying Millwall.
Nothing could separate the Baggies and the Lions at The Hawthorns as Morrison’s men made it seven games unbeaten but could not quite find the telling touch for a late winner in a strong finale.
Morrison was proud of how his side - struck by injuries and with limited options on a youthful bench - came on strong against a side who moved into the top two with a point. The head coach has handed his troops the weekend off to recover before going again in training on Monday.
“They probably edged the first half,” Morrison said. “We were too open on the counter-attack when we were attacking, so it was just a small little tweak at half-time, and then I thought the lads pushed on and we got them away from our goal for the majority of the second half.
“And we had some big chances at the end, but I thought the lads gave everything, considering it was the third game in the week, after an international break, a lot of lads played a lot of minutes, a few lads got knocks and battled on to the end.
“We were looking for that one moment. It wasn't to be, but I'm really pleased. I enjoyed watching the team play, enjoyed watching them compete, and we were pushing right to the end.
“The players will have the weekend off and they really deserve it.”
Albion were inches from a memorable and priceless winner in the relegation dogfight as for the third draw running they were denied by excellent goalkeeping.
This time Jayson Molumby’s low close-range effort was somehow turned around the post by Anthony Patterson.
Ousmane Diakite - his side’s star man once again - glanced the resulting corner wide after he was blindsided by colleague Nat Phillips.
Replays showed Morrison living every second and kicking every ball as his side pressed for a late winner and the boss was visibly exhausted afterwards. He admitted a late winner would have been “beautiful”.
“You do (live every moment),” Morrison added. “Because I think it's the occasion and the position that we're in.
“I think the scenes there, if we did score at the end, would have been beautiful, but it wasn't to be.”
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