Alan Pardew: Liverpool point is 'building block'

Although the Baggies have broken a club record for the most consecutive matches without victory, they won an encouraging point away at Liverpool last night.

And Albion's new head coach was pleased with the performance, because he still has some of his most important attacking players unavailable through injury.

"Until we get everybody fit and available, winning games is going to be tough for us," he said. "But in a league where the teams are so congested, every point is gold-dust and this is a really important psychological point for us.

"We didn't come here to open the game up, I have come here before and been a bit more ambitious but not this time.

We needed to gain belief by being very disciplined and I couldn't fault the players on that side, they really gave everything for me.

"It's a building block for me to maybe open the game up as we go along.

"There were some great individual displays, (Jonny) Evans, Ahmed (Hegazi) and (Kieran) Gibbs kept (Mohamed) Salah quiet.

"I thought Salomon was terrific tonight, he did some amazing things with two defenders and Emre Can around him and at times he still came out with the ball.

"I 'd like to give him more opportunities in terms of scoring a goal, but I couldn't have asked for anymore, he still created some moments.

"(James) McClean did very well against a good full back, but this West Brom side needs to be at full tilt in terms of bodies."

Albion were missing Matt Phillips, Nacer Chadli, James Morrison, Craig Dawson and Gareth Barry at Anfield tonight, and Pardew had 17-year-old defender Nathan Ferguson on the bench.

Despite those injuries, the Baggies frustrated their lacklustre hosts for large parts of the game, and even threatened at times, like in the first half, when Hal Robson-Kanu hit the bar.

Liverpool thought they had won it though, eight minutes from time, when substitute Dominic Solanke put the ball in the net.

However, the goal was ruled out for handball and Pardew thanked the officials for making the call.

"The linesman didn't move and that's usually a sign something's amiss," said Pardew. "When I saw it on video, Ahmed (Hegazi) has got a slight touch, and it's hit Solanke's arm and gone in.

"It's a brave call for an assistant referee to make in front of the Kop, and I thank him. It's the right call, but still a brave one."