Baggies keeping it simple to nab point

IT WAS a traditional question to ask after a fightback, but the answer was anything but traditional.

‘Phillip Schofield in The Cube,’ Sam Allardyce said after being asked what he said to his players at half-time, given West Brom were losing 1-0 and looked hopeless.

‘You know what he says? “Simplify”. Simplify our game. You just have to simplify your game, lads. You’re getting yourselves too confused. The second half was different. We turned a corner.’

Allardyce’s love of ITV game shows aside, West Brom did indeed discover some fight. They took a 2-1 lead, showing they are not ready to simply succumb to relegation.

Big Sam introduced his new loan signing, the Galatasaray striker Mbaye Diagne, at the break. He had an instant impact here, assisting Matheus Pereira for his goal.

Allardyce’s only gripe is that they could not hold on to their lead. This turned out to be the draw neither manager wanted. They needed a win, and Scott Parker felt Fulham threw victory away.

The visitors led 1-0 at half- time but as Parker explained: ‘That should be 3-0 or 4-0 at the break. The game should have been out of sight.

‘They have to make changes 20 minutes into the game and we have big, big chances. It should be done by half-time.’

Ten minutes in, Aleksandar Mitrovic and the ball left Bobby Decordova-Reid all alone. Mitrovic played a nice throughball into his team-mate’s path and Decordova-Reid found the back of the net. West Brom were glad to hear the half-time whistle go with them trailing by only the one goal. Allardyce responded by throwing on Diagne, who pinned back Fulham’s defence.

Then it was 1-1. Pereira’s cross deflected off Fulham’s

Ola Aina and the ball fell kindly for Kyle Bartley. Parker couldn’t believe it after all of their first-half chances.

The visitors were shellshocked. Then it got worse for Parker, as West Brom scored a second goal. Diagne played in a low cross which caught Fulham off-guard and Pereira got to it ahead of Aina, beating goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.

Could Fulham respond? They could, and it was down to the substitutes. Harrison Reed had the ball on the right wing, crossed and found Ivan Cavaleiro, who scored with a diving header.

Fulham looked the likelier to nab a winner before full-time but it wasn’t to be. A point apiece, though both these teams needed all three, really.