Slaven Bilic was full of praise for goalscorer Karlan Grant after his late equaliser earned West Brom a valuable point at Brighton.
An unfortunate own goal from West Brom’s Jake Livermore gave the home side a first-half lead and looked to have been enough for all three points before Grant fired home from a Callum Robinson cross for his first goal for his new club in the 83rd minute.
Speaking after the game, Bilic said: “If I could choose one player I wanted to score it’s him… the way he smashed it was brilliant for him and brilliant for us.”
When asked whether the 1-1 draw was a fair result, Bilic added: “Yes and no, it’s probably a fair result but I would fancy another 10 minutes because definitely in the second half we were much better and closer to winning this game.
“Overall in 90 minutes, they were better in the second part of the first half, our performance, the way we ended the game… the whole second half we were the team much closer to scoring even more goals.”
Seagulls boss Graham Potter had stressed before the the game the need for improvement on the attacking front, but his side again lacked a cutting edge in front of goal.
They had a number of chances to take the lead, but goalkeeper Sam Johnstone was a match for all of them, until Branislav Ivanovic’s attempted clearance struck Livermore and rebounded into the goal.
Potter said: “I would agree (that it was a fair result), I thought first half we were the better team, scored a goal and had some other good chances.
“If anything we could have been ahead a little bit more at half-time is the one thing I would say because I thought we played well first half.
“Second half, all credit to West Brom, I think they responded to the fact that it was maybe only 1-0 and they had a go, they pushed us back, they played better and if we’re honest their goal was a deserved one and a fair result in the end.”
On his side’s struggles in front of goal, Potter added: “That’s the challenge. The hardest thing in football is to score goals and put the ball in the net.
“We created some chances, we created some opportunities and we need to carry on with that and then we have to learn a bit more about the second half and what we can do a little bit better.
“But again I think you have to credit West Brom because they played better and were behind in the game but can have that mentality, so (there is) a lot for us to improve on.”
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