Kelly eyes three points at the Boleyn

  • by Staff Writer
  • Tuesday, 30th December 2014

West Brom’s caretaker manager Rob Kelly says he could do with "a bit of good luck" when his side tackle West Ham United at the Boleyn on New Year's Day.

Kelly - who has no interest in taking the position on a full-time basis - was asked late last night to take temporary charge of the team following the dismissal of Alan Irvine. This morning, just a matter of hours later, he addressed the media ahead of the trip to east London.

Explaining the current position at the club, he said: "I got a phone call last night from Alan [Irvine]. I was then asked to prepare the team as best we can for the forthcoming fixture against West Ham.

"It wasn't a shock or surprise and we came into work. That's what we do. We've just prepared as we would have done with Alan, as it was the right thing to do.

"It's an experience I've been asked to do so I'll get on with it, along with Keith [Downing] and Dean [Kiely], to the best of our ability. We'll do as best as we possibly can to go and get a result down at West Ham.

"The players know how important the game is. They're obviously disappointed that Alan has gone as they've got a lot of respect for him not just as a coach, but as a person.

"But they're professionals and they've all been through changes of managers, so most of them will know how to cope and get on with it. We'll do our very best to go and get a result for the fans - and we could always do with a bit of good luck."

Kelly - who previously managed Leicester from 2006 to 2007 - was also full of praise for the Irons' management duo of Sam Allardyce and Neil McDonald.

"I'm not surprised by West Ham's form," he added. "I don't know Sam personally but I know Neil well and they've moved forward. Sam's doing a fantastic job.

"People think they just put balls in your box, but they've got other assets and parts to their games that make them really difficult opponents. I'm not overly surprised [by their form].

"They ask questions of you in the last third. They're obviously very good at throwing balls into your box with Andy Carroll and one or two others. They've got some good individual players, but so have we.

"We're aware of their threats, we're aware of their capabilities. We only played them a month ago and it was a good game, one we felt we should have got something out of.

"While being aware of what they can do, we've also got some weapons ourselves that we'll try and work on."

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