ALBION ON A HIGH NOW
BAGGIES HEADING TO SUNDERLAND LOOKING TO BUILD ON RISE INTO PREMIER’S TOP HALF
West Bromwich Albion will come to Sunderland on a high this Saturday – after climbing into the top half of the Premier League.
Salomon Rondon’s lastgasp leveller earned Tony Pulis’s men a hard-fought 1-1 weekend draw at Stoke City, lifting the Baggies to ninth place.
Joe Allen’s close-range finish, which he produced when a Xherdan Shaqiri cross fell to him via a failed attempted clearance by Jonny Evans, had Stoke in front, with the visitors’ equaliser coming from a corner needlessly conceded by the hosts.
Defender Bruno Martins Indi could have allowed keeper Lee Grant to catch the ball but instead put it behind.
The resulting corner, swung in by 17-year-old substitute Jonathan Leko, was met in decisive fashion by the head of Rondon to make it a satisfying return to the stadium for Albion and exStoke boss Tony Pulis in his 1,000th game as a manager.
Leko,whohadcomeonin the 88th minute, said: “We are delighted to get a point, especially with it being a goal in the last minute too.
“I was really happy to come on and make the goal.
“I was told before I came on that I would be on corners and the instruction was to whip it towards the near post.
“I just tried my best to do that and thankfully it was a good delivery and Rondon managed to flick it into the net. It was a great feeling to run towards the fans, who were going crazy.
“It’s what you dream of growing up as a youngster, scoring or making a goal in the last minute which means something.”
The result saw West Brom move up to ninth in the table with eight points from six games, while Stoke, having ended their four-match losing streak in the league by collecting their second point of the campaign, rose off the bottom to 19th.
Pulis enjoyed his point against his former club, on the occasion of his 1,000th game as a manager.
Pulis received a warm reception from all sides of the Bet365 Stadium as he emerged from the tunnel just before kick-off.
And he said : “You couldn’t have picked a better place for me to get to 1,000 games.”
On his side’s efforts, he added: “We knew it was going to be tough – they are fighting for their lives. We showed great commitment and effort and attitude to get back into it after their goal. I would have been really disappointed if we’d lost.”
Stoke climbed off the foot of the table with their draw, doubling their points total, but reports are linking ex-Sunderland boss Steve Bruce with the manager’s job should Mark Hughes be sacked.