Trippier: 'I made my debut next to Darren Moore'

West Bromwich Albion have found some form under caretaker boss Darren Moore over the last month – and Kieran Trippier isn’t surprised.

Propping up the Premier League table and facing the threat of relegation ahead of our trip to The Hawthorns on Saturday, the Baggies have endured a torrid campaign, but have been given a morale boost with two wins and two draws since former centre-half Moore took charge following the departure of Alan Pardew at the start of April.

Kieran knows Moore of old, having been a team-mate of the now 44-year-old at Barnsley back in the 2009-10 season, when the young right-back picked up his first taste of senior football during a loan spell from Manchester City.

“Funnily enough, I made my first team debut next to him when we were at Barnsley,” explained Trips, casting his mind back with impressive accuracy to a 2-1 defeat at the Riverside in February, 2010.

“It was in the Championship, Middlesbrough away early in 2010. I was very young, he was at centre-half and he talked to me, screamed at me at times, but you can only learn from that!

“He’s done well at West Brom – they’re a tough team to beat. They work hard as a team and individually and they’ve got good players as well, so it won’t be an easy game at the weekend, but we need to go into it full of confidence after Watford and try to get another three points.”

Above: Kieran Trippier in action for Barnsley in 2011.

Kieran was typically lively down the right flank during Monday’s 2-0 home victory over the Hornets and supplied the assist for Harry Kane’s second-half strike as we recovered from a three-game winless run and stood ourselves in good stead to go on and complete the season strongly.

“I always give my best and Monday night was no different,” said the England international as he quickly turned his attention to our last three games of the campaign, away to the Baggies and then at home to Newcastle United and Leicester City.

“You try to put your body on the line and try to win as a defender. It was tough against Watford – obviously, it was a disappointment last week against Manchester United but we saw Chelsea won the other day and we knew we needed to win, so it was a massive three points.