ALL LONG journeys start with small steps, and West Bromwich Albion and Chris Kirkland began theirs yesterday with the kind of performances which suggest they may not travel in vain.

With his career and England prospects seemingly frozen by a litany of injuries at Anfield, Kirkland has moved to the Hawthorns on a season-long loan with the incentive of getting both moving again.

Bryan Robson’s side showed enough to suggest that they will not be automatic relegation candidates and had they taken arguably the best two chances of the game they would not have been reliant on Kirkland to earn them a point against a City side driven forward by Joey Barton, who also impressed as he begins his own voyage of redemption.

Barton was twice denied by Kirkland, who also saved well from Andy Cole and Claudio Reyna as he confirmed manager Stuart Pearce’s belief that playing first-team football would help focus the mind.

“Joey was our best player and gave a mature performance,” said Pearce. “Credit to him because it’s been a tough couple of weeks for him. I have seen a change in him in that short space of time,” added Pearce, who was without the 22-year-old for three days in the run-up to the game as he underwent on-going counselling with the Sporting Chance charity.

Barton’s latest misdemeanour on City’s pre-season tour of Thailand not only threw his career into doubt but also cost City the services of captain Richard Dunne, whose foot injury sustained in the fracas instigated by Barton had not healed in time to play.

“On the first day most teams playing away from home would be happy with a draw,” said Robson. “We have given ourselves a base and a platform and now we need to win games, and to do that you need a goalscorer. I feel that with Nathan Ellington’s pace and power he will contribute goals in this division” City, having sold Shaun Wright-Phillips to Chelsea, will tomorrow fax a £1m offer to Bolton for the winger Stelios Giannakopoulos. Pearce has so far invested a fraction of the Wright-Phillips transfer fee on a new strike force of Cole and Darius Vassell, both of whom would benefit from the arrival of Stelios. Cole showed that his appetite remains as he twice forced Kirkland into action from limited opportunities, the first after just 12 minutes when a header from Kiki Musampa was expertly held at close range.

“Whoever had got the first goal would have won,” said Pearce, whose side are now unbeaten in nine games.

Keen to bolster his defence before the transfer-window deadline, he may have been building from a greater position of strength had chances either side of half-time been accepted by Zoltan Gera and Kevin Campbell. Gera headed a Jonathan Greening cross wide when unchecked eight yards out, and then three minutes after the break Campbell was clean through but failed to beat James.

STAR MAN: Chris Kirkland (West Brom)

Player ratings. Man City: James 7, Mills 6, Sommeil 7, Jordan 6, Thatcher 6; Sinclair 6 (Croft 85min, 6), Reyna 6, Barton 8, Musampa 6 (Sibierski 90min, 6), Cole 7, Vassell 6 (Wright-Phillips 70 min, 6)

West Brom: Kirkland 8, Albrechtsen 6, Gaardsoe 6, Clement 7, Robinson 6, Gera 6, Wallwork 6 (Chaplow 89min, 6), Inamoto 6, Greening 8 (Watson 79min, 6); Kanu 6 (Kamara 60min, 6), Campbell 6

Referee: C Foy

Attendance: 42,983

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