Boss' praise for battling Baggies

Tony Mowbray praised his Baggies side as Albion registered their first point of the season away at Bolton. Albion again dominated for long periods of the game and could have won their first game at The Reebok Stadium had it not been for a combination of Ishmael Miller drawing a blank and the width of the goal-line.

On the back of consecutive defeats against Arsenal and Everton, Albion stood firm against a typical aerial bombardment in the second-half as Bolton searched for a winner. The cause was made even trickier with centre-half, and former Bolton man, Abdoulaye Meite failing to return for the second-half with a calf injury. However Albion still carved open their more established opponents with Kim Do-Heon crashing a 30-yard left foot drive against the bar with Ishmael Miller failing to score when it seemed easier to do so.

"I think it was a game where we could easily have got three points but we could just as easily have lost three points," Mowbray admitted.

"The pleasing aspect is we stood up to the bombardment that came our way.

"We showed a lot of character to defend what seemed like 1,000 corners!

"That's what we've worked on in the summer and there are hopefully some more additions to come to help us against teams like that.

"We were all disappointed to come in 0-0 at half-time because we dominated and threatened their goal on numerous occasions, showing our quality on the break.

"Kim's effort off the underside of the bar and the follow-up, which should really have been despatched, could have given us all three points.

"Kim's got that in his locker. Anyone who saw his goals in pre-season will confirm that."

For the third game in a row the Baggies started with Ishmael Miller playing as the lone striker with forwards Roman Bednar and Luke Moore having to settle for a berth on the bench. Although Albion created several goalscoring opportunities it's now three games in a row without the Baggies scoring from open play with Miller the culprit for missing a gilt-edge chance in the 78^th minute.

"Ishmael is getting in the positions to score," Mowbray added.

"He just needs one to go in.

"He could have been sat here with three or four on the board.

"He hasn't, but he has got into great areas and could have had goals bar for the keeper's legs at Arsenal and a good save at Everton.

"Today he's sitting in the dressing room very disappointed because he should have headed that ball into the net to give us three points.

"I don't think Ishmael is the sort of lad that suffers from confidence draining, though, and he'll keep going."