Southampton missed the chance to move into the Championship automatic promotion places as they drew 1-1 against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns on Tuesday evening.

The first half was arguably Southampton's worst 45 minutes of the season, or at least on a par with the same period on the opening day at Watford, as they were second best across the pitch against James Morrison's men, while failing to register a single shot on goal.

While the nucleus of Tonda Eckert's strongest starting XI was available to him in the west Midlands, he was without three key players in Cyle Larin, Caspar Jander and Leo Scienza for the clash against the Baggies, who sat one place and one point above them in the standings at kick off.

Saints simply weren't at it before the interval, and Eckert would have been relieved that his team only found themselves 1-0 down at the break, courtesy of Isaac Price's penalty.

The south coast outfit were a different animal after the break, and within eight minutes of the restart they were level as Scienza's replacement Sam Edozie stabbed home after Kuryu Matsuki headed the ball back across the goal.

The visitors were unable to find a winner as the attacking play swung back and forth, with substitute Lewis Dobbin having the best chance when he could only shoot straight at the goalkeeper after going through on goal one-on-one.

Dobbin had replaced Divin Mubama up top in the 71st minute, after the Manchester City loanee had been handed his first league start for the club.

The 22-year-old ultimately failed to contribute much and is proving to be nowhere near the level of the injured Larin, or Ross Stewart following the Scot's summer exit.

Mubama's minutes have been limited this term and, after a tough night at the Hawthorns, you can see why as nothing seemed to come off for the striker.

He isn't the only one whose Saints future could be in doubt ahead of January though.

Tom Fellows Needs to go in January

There was a lot of excitement around St Mary's when Tom Fellows joined the club last summer in a deal worth an initial £8m from West Brom, but it's fair to say his Southampton career hasn't progressed.

While the winger was a regular in the XI under Will Still, it has been a different story under Eckert, who seemingly doesn't favour the Englishman.

Even though the young German coach was completely without Scienza on Tuesday night, he opted to start Edozie, who handed in a transfer request on deadline day, instead.

With Matsuki being the club's form player in front of goal, the Japan international is almost guaranteed a start right now, but it would have been disappointing for Fellows to be given just a few minutes at the end of the game to make an impact against his former club.

Fellows has now started only one of the club's last six Championship matches, and he was hooked at half-time in that one.

The 23-year-old has been an unused substitute in four of those six fixtures, while he was given just two minutes plus stoppage time at the Hawthorns.

Fellows' only contributions were one step-over and cross, one run inside where he ended up losing the ball, before he failed to control a long ball forward to him in the corner of the pitch.

The winger has now made 53 appearances for the club and while he has eight assists, he didn't score his first goal for the club until earlier this season, and he has missed a number of big chances during his time at St Mary's.

Fellows clearly doesn't have the composure and clinical end product that Eckert wants from his attacking players, and his limited minutes in recent weeks for a player who cost £8m is telling.

The German coach has been in charge for a year now and he has clearly decided he doesn't rate Fellows too highly, and the best move for everyone would be a January exit that would allow him to bring in a wide player who fits more into his system.