West Brom’s McAuley targets clean sheets over goal tally

Gareth McAuley would rather take the plaudits for his defending rather than his goal scoring exploits despite his header earning a point for West Brom against Hull City.

The Northern Irishman took his tally of goals for the season to five – four for his club and one for his country – with a first-half effort on Saturday.

(Photo by Nigel Roddis/Getty Images)

That would not be enough for the Baggies to take the win though as Michael Dawson forced home an equaliser on 72 minutes, much to McAuley’s disappointment.

The 36-year-old has now scored more Premier League goals for West Brom than any other defender with 12 and is the first defender to score three in the league this season.

His goal for his country against Azerbaijan earlier this month also saw him match George Best’s tally of nine goals for Northern Ireland.

But McAuley admits clean sheets, rather than goals, is the currency he would prefer to deal in.

“It’s always nice to get on the scoresheet, I would rather the clean sheet and us take the three points,” he said.

“It was a bit funny I knew I got good contact on the ball, but it was a bit of a delayed reaction for it going in so I had to check it.

“It’s a nice little run I’m on at the minute but clean sheets is what I’m after.

“Like I said, it’s always nice to score but if I’d got the three points I would have been more pleased.

“We’re on a little unbeaten run now, we’ve got another game next week and hopefully we can win it.”