FIREMAN SAM
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SAM BYRAM admitted his unexpected birthday present might never have arrived.
The Norwich defender turned 29 on Friday and scored his first goal since December 2015 the following day.
Not that he knew much about it as Teemu Pukki’s shot hit him on an arm to cancel out Dara O’Shea’s early Baggies opener.
But at least he was on the pitch to score it. The former West Ham man, who was at Leeds the last time he scored, revealed he had been close to quitting not so long ago.
The makeshift left-back had a huge chunk of his career put on hold when a hamstring tendon ruptured so badly it came away from the bone.
Packing
That ended his season in February 2020 — and, two operations later, he did not play again until December the following year.
“There was times when I’d considered maybe packing it in when I couldn’t see a solution to the problem,” he said.
“I’d gone down different routes to fix the issue and it just took time. I’m thankful to be where I am.”
Byram also insisted he had no idea whether his 68th-minute goal should have stood.
“I’ll have to watch it back and see if I was offside and if it did hit my arm,” he said. “I’m not complaining. I’ll take it and I’ll take the point as well. It’s nice to get back on the score-sheet.”
Albion were convinced it should have been ruled out, and that they should have had a penalty at 1-0 when Grant Hanley barged John Swift over.
Steve Bruce knows his position remains precarious so long as Albion are at the wrong end of the table.
They would have dropped into the bottom three had Middlesbrough beaten Rotherham on Saturday night.
The Baggies were superior to the second-place hosts, who had won their previous six, from the moment Irishman O’Shea lost his marker, Byram, in the eighth minute to head home Swift’s free-kick.
Barrels
Bruce, who let the officials have both barrels afterwards, was confident a side that has drawn seven but won just once can quickly move up the table, especially as he now has Erik Pieters on the left of the defence.
The Dutchman joined last week as a free agent after leaving Burnley in the summer and made a solid first start.
“I know I’m good enough, I’ve got the experience and the body’s still good,” said Pieters. “I feel great, I’m not slowing down.”