Same old script for West Brom - match analysis

Yet with each home game that passes without a victory, the pressure ratchets up another notch and the sense of a mounting crisis at The Hawthorns intensifies.

The fourth 1-1 draw in Pepe Mel's four home game as Albion coach was an all-too-familiar outcome on a day that dished up some some all-too-familiar traits and still did not end as badly as it might have done for the Spaniard and his struggling team.

The news from elsewhere cushioned the blow of another two dropped points for the Baggies as Cardiff's implosion gathered pace, Sunderland's revival suffered a serious setback and Crystal Palace had the wind taken from their sails.

And even the Baggies' own late equaliser was worth more than just a point as it prevented Felix Magath's planned Fulham revolution from gaining instant traction.

But as another home game came and went with only a solitary point to show for it, the sense of another opportunity missed was impossible to ignore.

Once more the Baggies' performance was not a disaster. But once more it was not good enough.

Such has been the nature of a depressing season that threatens to end with Mel and Co drifting to relegation with minimal fireworks but serious implications. Should a troubled campaign end badly, Albion will not have plummeted to relegation, they will have limped there.

Only once have they been beaten by more than two goals and that came at the hands of an unplayable Luis Suarez at Anfield.

And their barely believable tally of 13 draws from 27 matches shows a team with enough talent and character to compete with the majority of Premier League opponents but lacking the crucial ability to prevail in the key moments of matches or capitalise on winning opportunities.

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• West Brom's Pepe Mel: Poor first half cost us

In any case, the steady nature of the decline will not make the fall any less painful should Mel fail to turn things around.

And the fact that their side have been so close on so many occasions will only increase the frustrations among Baggies fans at the failure in January to give the new boss and his dispirited team a better chance to change their fortunes.

Events away from The Hawthorns meant Mel and his team did not end the afternoon a great deal worse off than they started it in mathematical terms.

They were, however, left to reflect on a sixth game without a victory under their new head coach, the morale-sapping reality that another decent chance for victory had passed them by and the depressing knowledge that things do not get any easier. They now face a two-week break from action, during which their survival rivals will hope to turn the screw on a side still displaying fight but utterly devoid of belief and conviction.

When they return to action it will be against a Manchester United side who, while they might have failed by their own standards this season and lost to the Baggies in September, will still present a daunting challenge.

After that come trips to Swansea and Hull for fixtures that will be laced with the kind of tension Albion have failed so badly to deal with so far this term.

And all of the games will come against the backdrop of a new Hawthorns regime that has still been unable to offer solid proof of its ability to alter the course of events.

Nerves

Once more on Saturday fans saw glimpses of the kind of side Mel hopes to create, with occasional displays of pressing and high-tempo passing.

But all too often the old failings returned and, had the Cottagers not displays nerves of their own under new boss Felix Magath, they might well have been out of sight before the latest second-half improvement saw Mel's men claim the draw they ultimately deserved.

Johnny Heitinga headed over early on from a Lewis Holtby corner when he should have done better, Holtby went close with a long-range drive and Steve Sidwell missed a glorious chance from close range before Ashkan Dejagah pounced on a Kieran Richardson cross to punish some poor Baggies defending and make it 1-0 to Magath's men on 28 minutes.

Thievy Bifouma's poor shot from a pacy counter-attack was Albion's only first-half chance while Ben Foster in the Albion goal had to make a fine save to palm away a Hugo Rodellega effort.

Again it took changes from the bench to give the Baggies a chance.

The positive, decisive changes Mel instituted spoke positively for his ability to think on his feet with Victor Anichebe and Zoltan Gera making an impact and Matej Vydra grabbing the equaliser.

Yet the latest failure of his starting XI to get a grip of proceedings was another worrying hint that the former Real Betis coach is still thrashing around desperately hoping to stumble on a combination of players that will suit the style of play he desires.

He has been dealt a shocking hand and the raw, naive performances of Saido Berahino and Thievy highlighted the weak forward line he has inherited due to questionable transfer dealings.

Thankfully, Anichebe was a considerable improvement on his young colleagues and his arrival sparked a Baggies improvement with Maarten Stekelenburg making good saves from James Morrison and Chris Brunt either side of the error by the Dutchman that helped the hosts draw level.

He spilled Vydra's shot with four minutes left and the intervention of Hawk-Eye technology for the first time at The Hawthorns determined that the ball had crept over the line.

It was a predictable end to a predictable game. Because Albion fans had read the script before.