West Brom 0 Everton 0 - Report and pictures

On another day it could have been three, four, or five. Salomon Rondon could and arguably should have had a hat-trick before he limped off with injury.

Corner after corner was sent into the Everton box, none of them were converted.

Sam Allardyce will be pleased with how his side dug in, Alan Pardew will be wondering what more he can do.

It is now 19 games without a win in all competitions, but Albion haven't played as well as this in many of those games.

Even when they were two goals up against Newcastle they weren't as dominant.

This game, more than anything else, magnified the need to find a goalscorer in January because now this team is creating chances, it's just not scoring them.

Pardew made three changes to the side that lost at Stoke three days previously, bringing Matt Phillips and Craig Dawson back from injury in place of James McClean and Allan Nyom and reinstating Jay Rodriguez to the line-up instead of Hal Robson-Kanu.

Everton welcomed Yannick Bolasie back for his first start in 12 months, but Wayne Rooney didn't travel because of an illness bug and Idrissa Gueye was out with injury.

Albion started brightly and should have taken the lead five minutes in when Rodriguez whipped in a brilliant cross from the left-hand touchline.

It came quickly at Salomon Rondon, but he was on his own five yards out and completely missed the ball because for some reason he decided to try and touch it with the outside of his right boot instead of cushioning it in.

Ten minutes in, Phillips fired an equally dangerous cross in from the other flank that Chris Brunt nearly met with his head, and then Rondon headed dangerously back across goal but Everton cleared their lines.

The visitors looked stunned by Albion's hungry start, and they rode their luck again 18 minutes in when Phillips fizzed in a volleyed cross after picking up a punched clearance from Jordan Pickford.

Dawson arrived late in the six yard box and met it with his face four yards out, but the ball went over the bar.

The Baggies were on top, but struggling to make their dominance count. On the left hand side, Kieran Gibbs and Brunt were building a formidable partnership, and they nearly created another header for Rondon mid-way through the half with a neat one-two down the line.

All the chances were falling to the Venezuelan. He could have had a tap-in just before the half-hour mark if he'd realised where the ball had gone after a Brunt free-kick bounced off the top of Evans's head.

Pardew's side were playing the ball around on the deck, and creating problems for Everton. Barry was pulling the strings in midfield, and Brunt was wreaking havoc with his deliveries.

Those two combined five minutes before half-time when Brunt tested Pickford from the edge of the area with a sliced shot and then two minutes later he swung a free-kick to the back stick where Barry headed over.

The visitors could only muster one speculative long-range effort in the first half that ended with yet another Baggies opportunity going begging when Rondon overhit his attempt to slip Rodriguez through on goal.

The concern was that Albion would be made to rue those missed chances in the second half, but it started in much the same vein as the first, with Brunt creating and Rondon missing.

The Venezuelan actually did well to roll Mason Holgate on the edge of the box when Brunt slipped him the ball, but he sliced his effort high and wide into the Brummie Road End and fell over in the process.

That slip proved to be the end of his afternoon, and he hobbled off soon after clutching his hamstring, but whether the grimace on his face was for his injury or his glut of missed chances only he knows.

Hal Robson-Kanu replaced him, but it was Phillips on the right who looked the most threatening when he was running at Cuco Martina.

Allardyce made a double substitute on the hour mark to try and get a foothold in the game, bringing Aaron Lennon and Oumar Niasse on for Bolasie and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

But the gaps in Everton's midfield were still there and Albion were still able to switch the play with ease.

Dawson was advancing further and further up the right wing, and it was his cross that Rodriguez headed wide shortly after.

The longer it stayed goalless, the more tense it got, and there was a nervy moment for Dawson when he conceded a free-kick for raising his arm moments after picking up a yellow card for the same offence.

Pardew sent Grzegorz Krychowiak on for Jake Livermore with 20 minutes to go, as the Baggies continued to search for that illusive goal.

Phillips nearly latched on to a Gibbs low Gibbs cross before Gylfi Sigurdsson almost did the same at the other end.

But that was a rare attack for the Toffees who spent most of the second half grimly defending corner after Albion corner as The Hawthorns desperately urged their team on.

Phillips curled a free-kick over the bar, Gibbs shot straight into the ground when the ball ran kindly to him on the edge of the box.

Jonjoe Kenny flung headed a Phillips cross off Gibbs's head, Pickford plucked a corner from just ahead of Evans. Whatever they tried, it wasn't going in.

With injury time approaching, Ben Foster made an important double save from Oumar Niasse to stop Everton unfairly stealing it late on.

But there was still time for Brunt to curl a shot over the bar, and James McClean to have a cross cleared.

How Albion didn't win this game is anyone's guess. The way they dominated will give cause for optimism, but they are now three points off safety. They can't afford to keep missing these opportunities.

Man of the match

Chris Brunt - Created countless chances for those ahead of him and helped dictate play alongside Gareth Barry, who as also brilliant.

Position in the table

19th, with 15 points from 20 games

Teams

Albion (4-4-1-1): Foster; Dawson, Hegazi, Evans (c), Gibbs; Phillips (McClean 88), Livermore (Krychowiak 69), Barry, Brunt; Rodriguez; Rondon (Robson-Kanu 52). Unused subs: Myhill, McAuley, Nyom, Yacob.

Everton (3-4-3): Pickford; Holgate, Williams (c), Keane; Martina, Schneiderlin, Davies (Baningime 88), Kenny; Bolasie (Lennon 60), Calvert-Lewin (Niasse 60), Sigurdsson. Unused subs: Robles, Jagielka, Lookman, Sandro.

Referee: Roger East

Attendance: 25,364 (2,739 away)