John Smith's PNE fan panel verdict: Positives to be taken from West Brom point

Although our winless league run was stretched to eight matches with Saturday’s draw against West Brom, I thought there were some positives to be taken from a battling display which – on another day – could have earned three points.

Having collected 16 points from nine games on the road this season, Albion arrived at Deepdale with the division’s best away record so – prior to kick-off – I expected a tough game against a well-organised side containing some quality players.

Albion were originally nicknamed ‘The Throstles’ because it was the local name for the many song thrushes found nesting in the hawthorn bushes around their ground. Like the popular garden bird, their fans were also singing when it became a case of the early bird catching the worm.

Our defence was unlocked by a simple ball over the top, which resulted in goalkeeper Dai Cornell – making his first league start at Deepdale – being lobbed with fewer than 15 minutes gone. At this point, I feared the worst, but we competed quite well with the promotion chasers after their goal and gradually grew into the game.

We were unlucky not to equalise towards the end of the half when Josh Bowler had a goal-bound effort cleared off the line, with the keeper beaten. While I thought Albion had looked sharper and quicker than us in the first half, we began the second very much on the front foot.

Manager Paul Heckingbottom had taken the bold decision during the interval to replace captain Ben Whiteman with Will Keane and go for a more attacking formation. Deepdale sprang into life as the crowd lifted the players and vice versa which, for me, was good to see after the moans and groans of a small number of people who booed off the team at half-time.

Our sustained period of pressure eventually paid off when a well-worked move involving Sam Greenwood and Stefan Thordarson ended with Emil Riis smashing in a fierce, low shot from just inside the area for a well-deserved equaliser. A lot of our second-half attacking play revolved around my man of the match, Greenwood.

He seemed to be at the centre of everything in the top half of the pitch, with the Leeds loanee also taking some dangerous-looking corners. Greenwood was hard pushed for my award by Ali McCann, our ‘Mr Consistency’ so far in this largely disappointing season.

Following Whiteman’s substitution, the Northern Ireland international also looked very much future captain material by displaying some leadership qualities with some tenacious tackling in the middle of the park. I also thought that Thordarson had a great game and now appears to be settling in following a stop-start beginning to his North End career.

In my opinion, there is still much work to be done with the manager needing time and games for the players to get used to his different style and methods of play from his predecessor’s rigid 3-5-2 formation.

New blood on the playing side is definitely needed in January but, hopefully, this hard-earned point and improved second-half display is something we can build on – and kickstart a climb away from the relegation spots, above which we are still uncomfortably hovering.