Under-fire West Bromwich Albion boss Alan Irvine believes his side’s gruelling goalless draw at Hull City will provide a timely tonic as the Baggies prepare to head into the busy festive fixture programme.
West Brom’s Graham Dorrans’ first-half penalty was saved by Tigers goalkeeper Allan McGregor, who also saved the visitors’ Craig Gardners’ free-kick brilliantly in the second half.
Despite this, Irvine is convinced the spirit showed by his side indicated better times will soon be around the corner.
“Certainly the lads feel like it was a start and they felt positive about their performance and rightly so,” he said.
“They are disappointed they did not get back to winning ways and I am delighted they feel that way but it was great to stop that run of defeats and pleasing to have got the clean sheet.”
Irvine made the brave decision to drop his side’s star striker Saido Berahino to the bench but said he retained faith in the striker, who hasn’t been in goalscoring form since his call-up to the England senior squad.
Irvine said: “I made the decision to take him out of the firing line and give him a breather. Hopefully that will be good for him and he will respond. I have got no doubt that his form will return.”
