Source: PA
Hodgson encouraged by Baggies' resolve
Roy Hodgson believes West Brom have the fighting spirit needed for a relegation fight but admits his players have to learn instantly if they are to hold onto their Barclays Premier League status.
Albion rescued a point from the local derby with Wolves at the Hawthorns thanks to a last-gasp goal from on-loan Arsenal forward Carlos Vela. That cancelled out the first-half opener from another loan player in Jamie O'Hara, who has moved from Tottenham to Wolves for the remainder of the campaign.
New Baggies boss Hodgson said: "The performance told me there is fighting spirit amongst them, there is a lot of determination and character.
"I've been encouraged by what I've found. I don't really feel yet that I really know all I need to know about this group of players.
"But then, that's a no-brainer. How could you possibly when you come into a club with 12 games to go? I'm getting good help from the staff here. I'm learning as I go along and I'm aiming to learn very quickly.
"I'm hoping desperately the players will learn very quickly because we don't have the time. I've said to them `it's no good us playing good football and looking like a good team in the middle of April, because that might be too late.' We've got to do it straight away and I thought today there were a lot of encouraging signs."
