New hope for Baggies as farce is with Big Sam
... but Brighton pay the penalty
THE faintest whiff of spring hope can galvanise the spirit. Just a glimpse of sunshine can stir the soul. And a Sam Allardyce set-piece goal followed by a solid defensive block for the remaining 80 minutes can send a relegation-threatened club’s fans all dreamy in l ate February.
Big Sam couldn’t do it again, could he? Well, i f fate continues to intervene as it did here and if Brighton remain resolute in their determination to drag themselves into the relegation dogfight, then perhaps they can.
His old club Everton are up next for West Brom and then Newcastle at home. And after weeks of looking a Championship-bound mess, something appeared to have turned when they drew at Manchester United.
West Brom now look like an Allardyce side. And the rule is that those teams don’t go down. Maybe they have left it too late.
But they rode the controversy, a ludicrous refereeing ng performance and their luck to record Allardyce’s e’s second win.
They had an excellent opening 15 minutes here in which they peppered Brighton with crosses. And that was enough. In that opening onslaught, an n 1 1 t h- minute c o r ner er from Conor Gallagher gher was met by Kyle Bartley and, unmarked, he headed home. And having established their lead, West Brom would defend it with ferocity, determination and a fair degree of luck.
‘In the second half we could have played a lot better than we did but it doesn’t matter,’ said Allardyce. ‘If you can win a game, win a game. Doesn’t matter how. We had a bit of luck. Well, more than a bit of luck.
‘They missed two penalties. But for the first time since I’ve been here, we’ve a win and a clean sheet. The more of these we get, the closer we will be to saving our Premier League status.’
As for Brighton, if they were as accurate in front of goal as they were at shooting themselves in the foot, then they would be Premier League champions.
Graham Potter is gaining friends in high places, with Pep Guardiola a fan and they remain lovely to watch. But no amount of aesthetic pleasure is mitigation for two missed penalties, neither of which managed to hit the target, and a succession of spurned chances.
They were mightily unfortunate in the Lewis Dunk free-kick debacle. But that wasn’t the reason they lost here.
They’re playing prettily yet there are no points awarded for artistic impression.
‘We’re very disappointed with the result and it’s a sore afternoon for us, us,’ said P Potter. ‘We have only got o ourselves to blame. We had other chances; it is a game that got a away from us.’
Of course, tactical analysis wasn’t the main post- match talking point after dreadful refereeing b by Lee Mason. O On 16 minutes, Pas Pascal Gross’s corner was m met by Dan Burn but Okay Yok Yokuslu thrust his arm in the direction of the ball as he jumped with Burn.
It was always a penalty, give the un-natural position of his arm. That said we played on for a good two minutes before Mason had a chance to check the screen and award the penalty. Gross stepped up, stuttered towards the ball in his run-up and then rebounded the ball cleanly off the bar.
On 28 minutes, Dunk lined up a free- kick 20 yards out as West Brom keeper Sam Johnstone organised his wall at the far post. Mason blew for Dunk to take and, with Johnstone occupied, the defender rolled the ball into the net.
However, the icy blast of a second whistle had been heard. Dunk was furious. It seemed Mason had s potted Johnstone adrift and decided to call the free-kick back. For a while, Sunday-league style anarchy reigned. Whoever applied the most pressure on the ref, got the decision. So, having disallowed the goal, Mason changed his mind and awarded it.
At which point, the West Brom players surrounded him. Mason’s authority was seeping away. He had guessed at a decision, when in reality, he could have just waited for VAR Simon Hooper to rule.
The question was whether the ball had crossed the line before the second whistle had effectively halted play. It hadn’t and so the goal was ruled out by VAR, the free-kick was retaken and Mason was then similarly abused by Brighton players.
The process took five minutes during which Mason was walking around, pursued and surrounded by players. It was an unedifying spectacle.
‘We had a lot of trouble keeping our calm on the bench, we couldn’t keep our cool,’ said Allardyce. ‘I can imagine if fans were here it would turn the atmosphere.’
Quite how Mason continued is anyone’s guess. His mind must have been scrambled. But Brighton seemed to react well from their disappointment.
They created a succession of chances mainly for Aaron Connolly, but a combination of poor finishing and Johnstone’s steadiness denied them. The most glaring miss came on 52 minutes when Johnstone parried Neal Maupay’s shot and from eight yards out, Connolly drove over the bar. He was subbed for Danny Welbeck shortly after.
Yet Welbeck would have his own dreadful moment. When Conor Townsend felled Gross in the box on 74 minutes, it seemed Brighton would finally get their goal.
Gross declined to take the penalty so up stepped Welbeck.
He drove the penalty on to the post, the deflection coming straight back to him. The ball must be touched by another player before the penalty taker can touch it again so Welbeck conceded a free-kick.
Another calamity to be fall Brighton on a farcical afternoon.
WEST BROM (4-5-1): Johnstone 8; Furlong 7, O’Shea 6.5, Bartley 8, Townsend 6.5; Periera 7 (Ivanovic 79min, 6) Gallagher 8.5, Yokuslu 6, Maitland-Niles 6.5, Phillips 6 (Diangana 72); Diagne 6 ( Robson- Kanu 83). Subs ( not used): Button Robinson, Livermore, Sawyers, Pletier, Grant.
BRIGHTON (3-2-3-2): Sanchez 6.5; White (Moder 82) 6, Burn 7, Dunk 7.5; Bissouma 7, Gross 5.5; Trossard 6.5, MacAllister 6 (Lallana 46, 7), Veltman 6; Connolly 5 (Welbeck 61, 5.5), Maupay 6.
Subs (not used): Steele, Jahanbakhsh, Alzate, Tau, Propper, Zeqiri. Referee: L Mason (Lancashire) 4.