West Brom squander yet another chance to end winless run as Swansea salvage draw to edge closer towards safety
West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Swansea City: Jay Rodriguez’s early second-half goal put the basement side ahead, only for Tammy Abraham to dash their hopes of victory
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Your support makes all the difference.Swansea City rescued a potentially vital point as West Bromwich Albion failed agonisingly to end their long search for a Premier League win.
Albion are winless in 10 Premier League games after Darren Moore, their new caretaker boss, suffered from the same collective carelessness that dogged Tony Pulis and Alan Pardew, the club’s last two permanent head coaches.
Albion have now squandered 20 points from winning positions this season after Tammy Abraham’s second-half header gave Swansea a draw that edged them closer to their survival target.
For West Brom, all thoughts of remaining in the Premier League ended a while ago but Moore’s mission was to restore some dignity to a season of horror at The Hawthorns.
His side took the first step to doing so with a display of increased urgency that brought the opening goal for Jay Rodriguez nine minutes after half-time. Yet the league’s bottom side remain without a victory since they defeated Brighton on 13 January thanks to more defensive carelessness.
Swansea’s increased purpose since the appointment of Carlos Carvalhal appeared to be absent for much of the game but they showed enough resilience to claim a share of the spoils thanks to Abraham’s first league goal since October.
A bright start by the hosts brought a glimmer of a chance in the fifth minute as Swansea failed to clear a corner by Chris Brunt. Rodriguez attempted an ambitious overhead kick but his effort went well wide.
The Swans’ first chance came on 11 minutes when Abraham’s pressure forced a deflection into the feet of Andre Ayew. The forward tried a first-time shot but it flew harmlessly over.
Moments later Brunt tried a long-range shot for Albion that caught Lukasz Fabianski by surprise but the Swansea goalkeeper managed to palm the ball away. But a decent opening soon gave way to a lacklustre game in which both side struggled to create clear openings.
A horrible cross behind for a goal-kick by Brunt nine minutes before half-time encapsulated the general standard of the first half. Yet the visitors should have led five minutes before the break when a rare moment of incisive football brought a good chance for Ayew. He was teed up by a neat exchange of passes between Sam Clucas and Abraham with Ayew’s first touch taking past Ahmed Hegazi, but his shot crept agonisingly past Ben Foster’s left-hand post.
Then, in first-half stoppage time, Fabianski had to make a strong save to keep out a powerful Rodriguez shot that cannoned off Alfie Mawson.
Early in the second half Salomon Rondon headed well wide for West Brom before Craig Dawson had a header deflected wide from a corner by Brunt.
That was the prelude to the opening goal, which Rodriguez scored in the 54th minute. A cross by Matt Phillips was flicked by Rondon to the far post, where Rodriguez arrived late to force it home.
Abraham headed tamely over the bar with 26 minutes remaining for a Swansea side who had offered little threat for much of the afternoon.
In fact it was the home side who looked more likely to add to their tally with another corner by Phillips flying dangerously across the Swansea goalmouth.
Yet the hammer blow to Moore’s men when Brunt needless conceded a corner with 15 minutes and Swansea took full advantage.
A careless touch from Brunt allowed the ball to rebound behind and Abraham beat Jake Livermore to Sam Clucas’s flag-kick and headed home.
Teams
West Brom (4-4-2): Foster; Nyom, Dawson, Hegazi, Gibbs; Phillips, Livermore, Brunt, McClean; Rondon, Rodriguez (Krychowiak 83).
Subs: Myhill, Yacob, Burke, McAuley, Harper, Leko.
Booked: Brunt, Phillips, McClean.
Swansea (3-4-3): Fabianski; Van der Hoorn (Bartley HT), Fernandez, Mawson; Naughton, King (Dyer 62), Carroll, Olsson; Ayew (Ki 85), Abraham, Clucas.
Subs: Mulder, Narsingh, Routledge, Roberts.
Booked: Clucas.
Referee: Roger East
Attendance: 23,297
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