Moore keen to add to squad after late leveller earns first point at Forest

Posted Wednesday, August 08, 2018 by PA

West Brom manager Darren Moore plans to add to his squad ahead of Thursday’s transfer deadline despite seeing his side earn their first point of the season with a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest.

Moore, whose side lost at home to Bolton on the opening day of the season, watched Matt Phillips score a late equaliser at the City Ground but admitted he wanted to bring in new bodies to The Hawthorns.

Moore said: “Hopefully there will be some new faces to come in, we are working on that. It depends on nobody going out.

“I am aware there is a lot of speculation (in players going out), but at the moment they are still players at the football club. Jay Rodriguez has been a name mentioned in the press, but you saw a wholly committed performance from him tonight and we will continue to work towards Saturday with him.”

Moore added: “You are always pleased to get off the mark. We near enough executed the game plan, which is what we wanted to do. This will be a difficult place for teams to come and I am really pleased with the way the players acquitted themselves.

“It was a very tough first half and we had to be smart, shut the game down, which we did, and I thought we managed the occasion very well.

“There was a sucker punch with the goal, but I thought the response of the players was excellent and it was a good point for us.”

After new signing Dwight Gayle hit a post, Phillips was given too much space and he smashed an 87th-minute shot past Costel Pantilimon.

That cancelled out Adlene Guedioura’s stunning 25-yard drive that had given Forest a deserved lead just before the hour and the Algerian then almost hit a stunning second from 70 yards that the back-peddling Sam Johnstone managed to tip over.

Forest boss Aitor Karanka was left to rue a series of missed chances as they drew their second game in a row, although he was heartened by his side’s impressive display.

He said: “We should have easily won the game. It’s true they hit the bar and post as well, but if we had scored a second and a third, as we had chances to in the first half, we would have won the game.

“I told the players at half-time that if you make one mistake against teams like West Brom, then you will get punished. I am, though, very proud of the players as everyone could see we are a good team and we played with intensity.

“Last season we missed a lot of chances, but we didn’t have the quality that we do now. We brought in a lot of good players, especially up front, but now we need to score those goals.”

On the subject of any potential new signings before Thursday evening, Karanaka was keeping his cards close to his chest.

Asked if the club were going to be doing any late business, he said: “It is true we need a new right-back and Sam Byram remains a possibility. He is one of the players on the list.

“We brought in 10 players on deadline day last season, so anything can happen.”