OH OH HEAVEN

Baggies hero named Bond, Jonathan Bond

JONATHAN BOND kept West Brom in the FA Cup with a string of superb saves.

And Chris Hughton had the hump with referee Lee Mason after his Brighton side were held in this battle of the Albions.

The last thing the Seagulls boss wanted was a 360-mile round trip to the Midlands for a replay.

And he believes Mason was partly to blame for the extra fuel bill after refusing to consult VAR.

Hughton was seething over a second-half moment when Jurgen Locadia appeared to be brought down in the area by Kyle Bartley – after Bond had made one of several wonder stops to foil Dale Stephens.

He said: “From what I saw, I thought it was a penalty. I don’t have too many complaints about the game – you’ve got a good West Brom team that have come here and earned a replay.

“On a day where we were picked as a VAR game there were incidents that should be picked out, we saw it on the side.

“And even if the referee hasn’t seen it, Locadia has gone down in the box.

“The fact that he’s gone down there, then that’s one that should be picked up.

“We’ve seen it again, it looks like a penalty.

“But we didn’t do enough to win the game – we didn’t test the goalkeeper enough.”

Neutral observers may well disagree with that last point as Bond, 25, in only his second West Brom outing, was outstanding.

Boss Darren Moore rang the chances and nobody impressed more than Bond, given his chance ahead of Sam Johnstone.

The ex-watford man saved well from Yves Bissouma early on and kept out a Florin Andone effort before the latter’s air shot summed up Brighton’s efforts in front of goal.

Bond also magnificently foiled Beram Kayal from distance towards the end of the first half.

Stephens’ shot was wonderfully pushed onto the post with Locadia then claiming a spot-kick on the rebound.

West Brom were a threat on the break thanks to youngsters Jonathan Leko and Kyle Edwards in particular and were unlucky not to score from a Wes Hoolahan free-kick which Tosin Adarabioyo headed against the bar.

Brighton finished strongly with subs Viktor Gyokeres and Glenn Murray both denied by the defiant Bond.

Moore said: “The replay isn’t a hindrance as there is huge admiration for the FA Cup at West Brom.

“We played the game in the right manner, it was an excellent performance.

“I was really pleased with Bondy. His decisions were correct and he is always a calming influence on the team.”