English FA Premiership/ Aston Villa 1 West Brom 1: West Bromwich Albion moved out of the relegation zone for the first time since mid-November yesterday to enhance their prospects of retaining their Premiership status.
Paul Robinson, a full back who had not scored for three years, headed the equaliser with only 10 seconds of stoppage time remaining.
The second-half spat between the Villa defender Liam Ridgewell and West Brom midfielder Jonathan Greening, which afforded Rob Styles the chance to maintain his position as the Premiership's most frequent brandisher of red cards, caught the mood. "It was a nothing incident," said West Brom manager Bryan Robson. "He could have told the players to behave themselves and booked them."
David O'Leary took a contrary view: "You can't stick your head in somebody's face and try to be the big hard man in this day and age . . . He's cost us the game big style."
O'Leary had more than capable players in Mark Delaney and Ulises de la Cruz to reshuffle his defence after Ridgewell's exit. Moreover, as O'Leary admitted, his team should have had the game won by half-time. Darius Vassell had not scored in the Premiership since the opening day. The famine ended when he nodded the ball home after Ridgewell had headed Nolberto Solano's corner against the crossbar. It was no more than Villa deserved as Lee Hendrie and Gareth Barry called the tune in midfield.
West Brom's Kevin Campbell was the architect of two chances after the interval. Both fell to Zoltan Gera who saw Thomas Sorensen save his first before firing the second wide. By then both sides were down to 10 men before Robinson nodde home substitute Ricky Scimeca's cross.
Guardian Service
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