Van Hecke: We feel we are close to top sides

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Defender reflects on Sunday's narrow loss to leaders Liverpool.

Bruce Talbot

2024-04-01T05:00:00Z

Jan Paul van Hecke thanks the travelling fans after Albion lost narrowly to Liverpool.

Jan Paul van Hecke felt Albion were ‘really close’ to coming away from Anfield with some reward for their efforts on Sunday.

Leaders Liverpool showed their title credentials by coming from behind to win 2-1 after Danny Welbeck’s early goal had put Albion ahead to move to the top of the table.

Albion had their chances though, especially in the first half and then in the closing 15 minutes, and van Hecke doesn’t feel the team are that far away from challenging the top teams in the league. Next up is Wednesday’s trip to Brentford.

“I thought we were really close to getting a result so we’re disappointed,” said the Dutch defender.

“I think against a very strong side with really good players we did well; we created a lot of chances. Against good players you’re always going to concede chances as well but we could have got a point.

“We feel we’re really close to those top sides. We have gone toe to toe with Liverpool and created some big opportunities to score. It is small margins. It was a hard game and sometimes we felt under pressure but maybe we deserved more.

“Brentford will be another tough game, but we’ll be going there looking to get the three points and put in another strong performance.”