West Bromwich Albion were looking to keep the pressure on and close the gap to Leeds United in third place in the Championship table as we made the trip to Elland Road for Friday night’s football action.
With a four point gap at the beginning of the game to both tonight’s opposition and Sheffield United, it was obviously a key clash when it came down to our ability to challenge for the automatic spots as the season comes to a close, as few would welcome the lottery of the Play-Off route.
We couldn’t have got off to a worse start as the hosts took the lead 16 seconds into the game and by minute 30, they had a two goal advantage as defensive problems again came to the fore. Second half, it quickly became three, and stoppage-time saw it become four.
There will be a reaction to this amongst the fans on social media, but Leeds were the better side (and had a point to prove) and defensively we were poor again. Offensively we were dire and they couldn’t offset the problems we know we have.
Promotion isn’t off the cards, even though this was disappointing and frustrating, but it’s difficult to think our route back to the Premier League is now not via the Play-Offs only.
Speaking to the BBC following the fulltime whistle being blown, head coach Darren Moore said of the performance and result.
“We were caught cold with the early goal and that gave us a mountain to climb. It gave them more impetus and momentum in the game. We got more about it in the second half and I thought the next goal was always going to be the important one. It went to them and at 3-0 it’s a really tough ask then. I always want a performance and we didn’t get a performance. We’re a close-knit group and we will stay together. We’re all big characters, we’ve shown great team spirit to get to where we are now, and that will never elude us. We’ll do it together. We win and lose games as a team.”