Darren Moore: West Brom will celebrate going top with pasta on the bus home
Darren Moore is adamant there is more to come from his side after Albion went top of the league – and he says the only way they will celebrate is with a bowl of pasta on the bus home.
The Baggies beat bottom club Preston North End 3-2 at Deepdale today to move into pole position in the Championship.
Goals from lethal strike force Jay Rodriguez and Dwight Gayle, who already have 13 between them this season, were complemented by a fortuitous own goal off Ben Davies' head.
It was Albion's third successive win in the league, and the red hot Baggies have now picked up 13 points out of a possible 15.
But Moore is refusing to get complacent, and with a tough trip to Sheffield Wednesday coming up on Wednesday itself, celebrations will be kept low-key.
“We’ll celebrate with a bit of pasta on the bus!" said Moore. "We’ll recharge our energies and prepare for the midweek game.
“You get 24 hours on this, and then we focus on the midweek game and another tough away game and just try and keep the momentum going.”
Despite scoring 25 goals already, Moore is confident his Albion side will improve.
"I really do fell that there's more to come," he said. "More has to come. Together, collectively as a group and a unit we'll keep working on that. We have to keep working at it.
"We'll saviour this result over the next 24 hours and then we'll get back to work.
"We're trying to get all aspects of the game right. We're good in possession but can be even better on the ball, and create more chances, believe it or not.
"And we could get better off the ball, being more defensively sound and game management too.
"All these things are things you try and claw at in training, but because of the schedule those training sessions are few and far between, but when he get those chances we try and pinch them to get better.
"We want to get better. We're a team in transition, trying to progress, trying to change our style of play, getting results in a tough division."
Gayle and Rodriguez have scored as many goals between them as 14 teams in the league and their goals have helped fire Albion to the top of the table. But Moore was quick to praise the collective effort.
"Those two will be the first to say its their teammates creating chances," he said. "I'm pleased as a head coach to see them both score today, they've got a wonderful understanding.
"They enjoy each other as individuals, as players, they have cohesion.
"But I'd like to extend it to the whole group, it's not just those two, who have given us a platform to move forward.
"It was a difficult game today and that's why I'm pleased with the three points.
"Alex Neil is a very good head coach. Whether your top or bottom, you're splitting hairs in this division, you'll see topsy turvy results every week.
"You have to go into every game with detail, precision, focus and determination and I thought the boys showed that here against difficult opponents.
"Preston didn't let us rest one minute and we had to go and get the result rather than having it given to us."
