Albion marksman reveals tricks of his goal scoring trade

The Albion marksman is the top English scorer in Europe's big five leagues this season after his seventh in 13 appearances against Leicester.

Murray, 35, has scored goals where ever he has played, from Workington Reds and Wilmington Hammerheads to Crystal Palace (below), Reading, Bournemouth and the Seagulls.

He said: "People have helped me. I am not saying this is all me. I've taken a little bit from a lot of people but, as far as finding those spaces in the box and the ball coming to me, I think it's natural.

"A lot of people don't agree with this but it can also be a little bit lazy as well. That may be the wrong word - other people would call it cute. Just sort of hanging around between defenders."

Murray found out what it is like to be a defender at one of his former clubs.

He revealed: "For Crystal Palace, in a pre-season game, I once played at centre-half and I couldn't believe how different the game was.

"Basically, in my job, I run when I want to run. If I want to run the channel, I run the channel. Don't get me wrong, if I don't run about the gaffer will take me off, but I sort of run when and where I want.

"As a centre-half I was running with a striker and then the ball goes up the other end of the pitch and it's in their (opponents) penalty area and my centre-half partner, who was Peter Ramage at the time, is screaming at me.

"I'm saying 'The ball's up there, what are you talking about? And he is shouting 'No, get ready, get ready, they're coming back'.

"I thought 'This is a whole new ball game'.

"So I think defenders have to move with the flow of play and sometimes they forget about you. That is just them moving in the flow and shuffling and keeping their space with their other defenders or midfielders, sort of creeping up as they do and sometimes if you just sort of hang around in there, quite often the ball can find you."

Murray scored his 100th goal for Albion last month with a typical poacher's strike against Wolves.

He hooked over a cross with his back to goal and Conor Coady behind him.

Coady moved towards his own net and Bruno's cross-shot (below) found Murray, lurking unmarked on the edge of the box to complete his century.

Murray said: "I look back to the Wolves goal. I was speaking to Chris Kamara (Sky Sports) about it and he said was Conor Coady to blame for not marking me?

"I'm no defensive expert but I felt as though Conor was working in his back three, getting up and shuffling across.

"He almost had to leave me. At that position, where the ball was, I wasn't so much a threat, whereas if Conor comes and stands on me and Bruno bends it in that bottom corner, people would say why was he not blocking that?

"It's such a difficult balance, so sometimes if you just hang around in there and the ball finds you. It's just about keeping calm in that split second and finding the back of the net and then enjoying it."

Murray's header from an Anthony Knockaert corner against Leicester was his sixth goal in as many games at the Amex this season.

It was not enough to secure the points, Jamie Vardy equalising from the spot for the visitors after James Maddison had been sent-off in the first half.

The draw stretched the winless run to three matches and intensified an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with performances among small sections of the fanbase.

Albion are still 12th in the table, having already played five of the top seven and the top two, Manchester City and Liverpool, away.

Murray said: "It's going well at the moment and we just need to continue what we're doing.

"Would they rather we played well and lost? It's that old adage. Do you want to play beautiful football and possibly lose games or maybe not so beautifully and pick points up?

"At the minute we are ahead of ourselves. We've got 15 points in 13 games. We try to work on a point per game ratio throughout the season.

"We've had some really, really tough trips. We've got to play them at the Amex but we've done arguably the hardest two in the league, the Etihad and Anfield.

"We actually put in a really good performance at Anfield (1-0) and a respectable one at the Etihad (2-0)."

After 12 matches in the first three months, the season now gathers pace following the international breaks.

Albion face seven matches in December, at least five in January including the FA Cup.

The next three, away to Huddersfield on Saturday and Burnley the following Saturday, with Palace's visit in-between, could make a big difference.

Murray said: "You can see a lot of movement in the table and if you hit form at the right time then it can be very beneficial.

"At this level, three games in a week is tough, especially with Crystal Palace in the middle of it.

"It's a period we look forward to, where you can get into playing a lot of games and enjoying your football."