West Brom boss Alan Pardew: 'Nine times out of ten we win that game'

The Baggies boss thought it was the most complete performance he had seen by his team in his six games in charge, and said nine times out of 10, it would have ended in victory.

Albion controlled the majority of the game and had 17 shots to Everton's seven, as well as 10 corners.

They missed a whole host of opportunities, particularly in the first half when Salomon Rondon might have had a hat-trick, but the game finished goalless to extend Albion's club-record winless streak to 19 games in all competitions.

Pardew believes there are positives to be had from the game but admitted the finishing needs to improve.

"It’s not often you see that many balls flashed into the box without contact," said Pardew. "We were putting quality balls into the box from both sides.

"Phillips and Dawson really added to us down the right side. On the left hand side Gibbs and Brunt were delivering first-class stuff.

"Nine times out of 10 you win that game, we just couldn’t find that moment.

"We missed a couple of chances early on, I don’t know if that affected the strikers. It’s moments like that (Rondon miss) that can change it. If that one had gone in it might have been quite different.

"We were definitely in great shape for it. I couldn’t ask the rest of the team to do more than they did. Everton are on a decent run and defended great, as you would imagine.

"They’ve been very good on the counter but we restricted them to one or two moments really. It’s just a shame we couldn’t get that win. With the other teams drawing it would have been a really significant win."

Albion are starting to create more under Pardew, and the Baggies were boosted by impressive returning displays from previously-injured pair Craig Dawson and Matt Phillips.

But it was the experienced duo of Chris Brunt and Gareth Barry who controlled the game, particularly in the first half, and they laid on chance after chance for their team-mates.

"I thought it was about as disciplined a 90 minutes I've seen from this team since I've been here," said Pardew. "We controlled the game.

"We've had periods when we've been better. I thought second half at Stoke we were terrific but we were two-nil down, so for the 90 minutes duration today we were in good control.

"We had a firm grip of the game and created some real lovely moments to unlock them without hitting the back of the net.

"There was a lot of positives to come out of today but we're hungry for the three points as you'd imagine.

"It's about keeping that in check. There were a couple of times in the second half when we just over-committed, and that is the danger. We could have lost that game. We're on that knife edge at the end of games if we don't get ourselves the lead quicker.

"In a game we dominated, Ben has to make a good save (at the end from Oumar Niasse)."

The worst miss of the afternoon came just five minutes in when Rondon failed to make contact with a whipped Jay Rodriguez cross when he was all alone five yards out.

“I just looked at it on the replay, he might have thought he was going to head it which put him off momentarily," said Pardew. "Instead he’s just stabbed at it, it was a chance you’d expect him to score normally.

"I don’t know how many set-plays we had. With Dawson on the pitch we had big height in there. Perhaps one of those we should have executed. We can’t blame the strikers entirely."

Rondon was forced off ten minutes into the second half clutching his hamstring after spooning a shot into the Birmingham Road End.

“I'm not sure (how long he'll be out)," said Pardew. "He said he felt his hamstring but whether that’s fatigue or not I don’t know. He’s done some leg work for us today.

"It was a great turn, whether he’s hit the ground or not or whatever and damaged his leg.”