'We're seeing glimpses, we all know the talent he's got' – Steve Bruce on West Brom's Grady Diangana

Diangana, 24, was the Baggies’ standout performer in Sunday's 2-1 Championship defeat at leaders Blackburn, which brought an unbeaten start to the season to a halt.

The former West Ham wideman struck a deflected effort on the hour to bring Bruce’s side back within a shout but Albion were unable to force an equaliser against Jon Dahl Tomasson’s table-toppers.

Diangana has struggled to recapture the excellent loan form that prompted Albion to make his move permanent in 2020. He opened his account for the season in Lancashire, however, and should have converted an earlier header. The winger was a thorn in Rovers’ side and looked sharp all afternoon.

“The referee gave him a helping hand, eh?” Bruce said of Blackburn’s physical treatment of Diangana. “They kicked him from pillar to post. The boy, who I like, in the middle of the park, Travis, has kicked him from one end of the pitch to the other.

“How he didn’t get more than one yellow card is beyond me, but that’s another story. They’ve got to try and protect him, that’s for sure.

“We’re seeing glimpses, which is the most important thing – we’re seeing glimpses of Grady, we all know the talent he’s got and where he was a couple of years ago.”

Diangana managed just two Championship goals last season and is already off and running for the new campaign.

Albion created the greater chances at a sweltering Ewood Park but Rovers earned three points through two well-taken strikes from distance by star man Ben Brereton Diaz and Sam Gallagher.

Diangana spurned an early header and Albion’s best late chance at an equaliser fell to Karlan Grant, who was denied by Thomas Kaminski.

“I think like everybody else we’re scratching our heads thinking ‘how the hell have we lost that?’” Bruce added.

“We had our chances, however the way we’ve played, I’ve got no complaints. On another day we could’ve been worthy winners. The only thing we have to be better on – and I’ve said it too many times since I came to the club - we rely too much on Granty to score us a goal.

“We have to start taking our chances from elsewhere too. It’s something we have to improve on, but the way the performance was, anybody neutral would’ve come away from that thinking how the hell have Blackburn won.

“The way we try to rally round and chase it and play the game, we’ve got to take our chances when they come along. We have done it against Watford and again here - it’s a problem to us.

“It’s not just the centre forward – even the Diangana goal is a bit lucky because of a deflection. He should’ve scored the header. We had a header from a corner from which we should score. It’s a frustration we’ve had for a while, since I’ve been at the club – how do we score?

“It’s going to be key to our season."