Appleton relieved to escape with draw

West Bromwich Albion caretaker boss Michael Appleton was relieved the Baggies could escape with a 3-3 draw with West Ham United on Saturday.

Appleton, who will hand the reins over to former Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson this week and return to his regular first-team coaching duties, watched from the touchline as the Baggies built up an impressive 3-0 half-time lead over the woeful Hammers.

But West Ham suddenly hit full throttle after the break and slammed in three goals to steal a point at the Hawthorns, with former Hoffenheim striker Demba Ba nabbing a brace in his full debut for the East London club.

Appleton, who at 35 years of age is the youngest-ever Premier League manager, admitted it could have been far worse for the Baggies, who faded badly in the second half.

“The first 15 minutes (of the second half) were going to be key,” he told reporters.

“In the end I thought they hung on really well because it could have been an even worse result.”

“Momentum is huge in all sport, especially in football. We didn’t really deal with the diagonal balls into the box. It made us go deeper and deeper.”

“I think that’s the position we are in at the minute. We are on a terrible run and confidence was sky high at half-time. But when you lose a goal then doubts start to creep into your mind.”

“There are leaders in the team with Premier League experience and it’s up to them to take the younger players and show them their roles.”

“There’s going to be some disappointed lads down there, but we’ve got more than a week to prepare for Wolves (on Sunday).”

West Ham boss Avram Grant hailed his side for their remarkable comeback, one that should keep speculation over the Israeli’s future at Upton Park at bay for another week.

“It was an amazing game,” Grant said.

“It’s not easy to come from 3-0 down when you are bottom of the league. At half-time everybody was sad and it was my job to make them relaxed.”

“We spoke about how to change the game. We started it not very organised and we didn’t defend well at all.”

“It’s my nature to believe that everything can change in football, so we knew the game was not over (at half-time).”