Sherjill MacDonald may miss the start again
SHERJILL MacDonald may have to wait for his first ever Albion start with Tony Mowbray insisting he is still seen as very much of an “impact” player.
MacDonald has made 31 substitute appearances, without finding the net, since joining from AGOVV Apeldoorn on loan in January 2007 that was turned into a permanent £200,000 transfer a year later.
The 23-year-old was a fourth-minute replacement for Kim Do-Heon at Middlesbrough with the Albion boss seeking to send out a positive message by using MacDonald’s searing pace rather than Marek Cech’s defensive qualities.
Now MacDonald and Cech are vying to stake a claim for Kim’s left-sided position against Fulham on Saturday with Chris Brunt also out injured.
“Both of them have an opportunity to come in but I haven’t decided how I am playing yet,’’ Mowbray said.
“I was trying to be positive with the change so early in Saturday’s game rather than sending a negative message. I am very conscious that our five midfield players can all get in goalscoring areas and I was trying to be positive for the psycholgy of the team because I didn’t want to go on to the back foot. Yet I still see Sherjill very much as an impact player who can come off the bench for the last 20 minutes.
“He could have come on for the last 20 minutes of that game and made an impact with them chasing an equaliser and going man-for-man at the back.”
“Ishmael Miller gave us what Sherjill could also give us, which was blistering pace to burst away and get in on goal.”
Miller ended up replacing MacDonald at half-time on Saturday.
“It was probably a bit unfair but I made the decision to put Miller on,’’ Mowbray said.
“He went on so early that it didn’t really enter my mind that I was taking a sub off to put one on.
“It was a formation change decision at half-time rather than bringing an individual off.
“If he had played those 40 seconds instead of Kim he would probably still have been coming off.
“It’s just football and it’s about the team and not individuals.
“The team got the result at the end of it, which is what was important.”
