Conor Townsend embracing West Brom challenge

The 25-year-old was snapped by the Baggies from Scunthorpe in the summer after two hugely impressive seasons in League One with Scunthorpe.

Now though he is competing with former England international Gibbs for a place on the left side of Albion's defence.

Townsend made his second Championship start against Blackburn last weekend with Gibbs missing out through injury.

The pair have had very different paths to The Hawthorns with Gibbs coming through Arsenal's academy while Townsend has worked his way up the football pyramid.

And he is determined to impress boss Darren Moore and become the Baggies number one full-back.

"I have had to be patient because the team has been doing really well and Gibbo has been playing very well," he said. "I've not had any complaints, but I’ve been working hard trying to put myself in the manager’s thoughts.

"But I believe there's only so much you can do in training. Hopefully now I’ve been given a chance I’ve done enough to at least give him a headache and make him question whether to play me.

"I felt I did okay against Blackburn but there's definitely more to come from me."

While he is competing with Gibbs for a place in the team, Townsend is also eager to learn from the 29-year-old who has won 10 caps for England.

"The competition between us can only be good for me," Townsend continued.

"And I’d like to think I will rise to the challenge.

"I can learn from Gibbo, he’s been very good this season playing in the left wing-back role.

"He is an ex-England international, you have got to pick his brains.

"I’ve tried to learn at every club I have been at. You have got to pick the brains of people in similar positions.

"It’s good to do that and prove that I am good enough."

With head coach Moore playing a back-three, Townsend is getting used to a wing-back role. But he is enjoying it.

"Wing-back is quite a specialist role," he added.

"When I first came we were playing four at the back, which is where I’ve played for most of my career.

"But I have played wing-back before. The way the manager wants us to play is taking a bit of getting used to from everyone, the full team.

"There’s things we need to work on within the formation, but at times it can be frightening. You’ve seen us cut teams open quite easily.

"It’s just fine tuning it in training so people can see the best of it."