Lewis Cox's West Brom analysis: Familiar tale checks progress somewhat

Holding on for victory against a decent Hull City side - certainly a better outfit under Ruben Selles than their lowly league position - would have put five points between the Baggies and Middlesbrough in eighth.

As it was, Tony Mowbray's men were made to make do with a point and it was just about the deserved outcome at The Hawthorns to keep everything fairly compact in the play-off race, though some are doing their best to badly tail away.

Saturday's draw did make it six matches unbeaten but it was doubtless more of a frustrating draw than an uplifting one.

Recently 1-1 draws at Leeds and Burnley have been rightly lauded. The Baggies went and bloodied the noses of two of the three best sides in the division and were well worth a share of the spoils both times.

Here Hull gave Mowbray's men a taste of their own medicine - just as the Albion boss predicted. Hull are an attack-minded side with decent players. They could not wrestle control of the match from their hosts and were happy to let the Baggies dominate the ball, but they sprung when it mattered.

Mowbray's main ire - and it has followed Albion for much of this season - has been a lack of any clinical edge in the final third.

This was an 18th draw of the league season. Only Preston, with 17, have anywhere close to that throughout the professional leagues in this country. Indeed no other club in the top eight tiers of English football, or any of Europe's top leagues, have drawn that amount.