Jonathan Greening is still backing West Bromwich Albion to make a big impact in the Coca-Cola Championship - once he and his more Premiershiporientated team-mates have adjusted to the pace of their new level.

"You've got to expect it tough in this league," said Greening. "It's a bit more rush, rush and long balls but we've got to cope with it and the quicker we can adapt, the better we can do.

"There were a few more surprise results again this weekend, like Sunderland getting beat at home by Plymouth but we've worked hard and got another point away from home.

"In any case, we're only three games in, it's a long old season and we know we can do much better.

"We know we're good enough. We just need to get back to the way we played against Hull City for the first half-hour of the season.

"We played really, really well for the first 35 minutes and should have been 4-0 up but then we didn't play very well at Cardiff on Tuesday or here."

Greening admitted that the early loss of Nathan Ellington and the team's over-reliance on the power of Ellington and his strike partner John Hartson is a concern.

"Make no mistake, we wanted the three points," he said. "We started off all right. We played some good stuff, got down the wings, got a few crosses in and looked quite sharp but losing Duke again left us without any pace.

"With him coming off, it killed us and we couldn't really get any momentum after that and we didn't cause them any more trouble.

"Zoltan Gera went up front in the second half but he's more of a link player and even though he worked hard, we didn't seem to have that attacking threat.

"Defensively, we've been solid and we don't look like we're going to concede but, at the moment, we need that extra spark going forward.

"We're not too sure what the missing link is but, if the gaffer can get a couple of strikers in before the transfer deadline [at the end of the month], then everyone will be on their toes and battling for their place."

Albion boss Bryan Robson was in full agreement with Greening, admitting that strengthening his frontline is a real priority -particularly now that he has a new concern over Ellington, other than that of losing him to another club.

"For us to be a real threat in this division, we need someone running through and that's why we're looking for strikers," said Robson.

"Once we get Nathan fit and sharp, he can live off John Hartson's flick-ons but that's now two games running we haven't had that.

"But our attitude and commitment in getting two away draws has still pleased me, because I see Cardiff and Southampton as two of the top six sides in the division."