Albion’s misfiring forwards have received an emphatic vote of confidence as the team gear up to face Coventry looking to end a six-match goal drought.

The Baggies head for the Ricoh Arena tomorrow as the Championship’s second-highest scorers, with 24 goals to Cardiff’s 26.

But six League and cup games have passed since Roman Bednar struck the last goal scored by a striker in the 5-0 win at Middlesbrough.

However, assistant head coach Eddie Newton insists Bednar, Luke Moore, Simon Cox and Chris Wood will find their scoring touch.

Newton said: “It will come. We’re creating an average of 15 chances in each game. If you create 15 chances on average that is more than enough for the strikers to get their goals.

“Yes, we’d love our strikers to be scoring 20 or 25 goals but the way we structure our teams to play means we’ve got centre-halves, full-backs, midfielders, wingers and strikers scoring. We’ve got goals everywhere.

“You can’t just rely on one or two players all the time, because they will go through spells when their form is not great and you can’t just rely on them to get you another goal.

“Goals have to come from everywhere, but we’re confident goals will come from strikers because what we’re seeing in training is good and they just need that little bit of luck for one to go in and kick-start something.

“What is more important is that we’re getting in those positions and creating chances. If we weren’t doing that we would be in trouble, but at the moment we are creating and the players aren’t afraid to get into the positions to miss or score.”

Albion have Cox champing at the bit for a chance following a frustrating start to his Hawthorns career.

Newton has backed the £1.5million summer signing to come good, but Roberto Di Matteo’s right-hand man has hit back at a bizarre rant by Swindon chairman Andrew Fitton over the former Robins player’s lack of opportunities.

The No 2 said: “Simon has been fantastic in training with his work ethic. He’s itching behind us on the bench to get on the pitch and that’s what you want.

“You want an enthusiastic player who is not happy to be on the bench. He wants to be on the pitch and to prove to us that he should be in the starting XI week in, week out.

“He’s enthusiastic and we want that. We played against Swindon and ‘Coxy’ last season with MK Dons so we know what he can do. But it’s very easy for people to say he can just jump up a league and go straight into it.

“The demands of the Championship are a lot different and Simon is adjusting to new players around him because they play differently.

“The way Swindon were set up and the way we are set up is different and he’s coming to terms with it. When he first came in he was asking us, like he should, what we wanted from him and we’re starting to see it in training.

“We’re positive about what will come from Simon but sometimes you have to be patient and allow people to adjust to a new league and new surroundings.

“There is no doubt in my mind that he will come to terms with it.”

Cox is pushing hard for a start at Coventry, with Roman Bednar struggling to shake off a back injury and teenager Chris Wood enjoying mixed fortunes as the Czech Republic international’s deputy.

But Di Matteo and Newton could opt for Luke Moore as a lone striker in front of a five-man midfield, with either Robert Koren or Filipe Teixeira stepping in.

The Sky Blues will be without star striker Leon Best, potentially opening the door for former Wolves forward Freddy Eastwood to start.

Albion head to their nearest Championship rivals looking to bounce back from Tuesday’s defeat by Swansea, but Newton is urging patience with their young team.

He said: “Everyone has to understand we’ve been turning out a team in the Championship with an average age of 23. To their credit, they’ve been consistently near the top since the start of the season.

“In my mind, that’s a fantastic achievement by the boys. However, the simple fact is that there is some naivety there and we have to address it every day.

“That can be through communication, by talking things through in team meetings or individually with players, telling them what we expect of them and what we think they can do better.

“It’s also about reminding them of what they do well. We always try to give them as much praise as possible, while trying to encourage them to add one or two more things to their game.

“We also address it by working on things tactically on the pitch as a unit. Things are going to go wrong, especially when you’re bouncing from game to game, because you’re not able to work on things in training as much as you’d like.

“But now there’s going to be a bit of a lull in the games, we can really focus and work on those things.”