Billy Jones grabbed his first ever Albion goal to earn the Baggies a draw against Newcastle at The Hawthorns.
Steve Clarke’s side trailed at half-time to Yoan Gouffran’s ninth-minute strike and were second best throughout the first half.
But they dominated the second period and levelled on 64 minutes as Jones became their first English goalscorer in the Premier League this season.
Newcastle shaded the opening exchanges and went ahead on nine minutes with the game’s first real chance.
A cross towards the far post from Papiss Cisse was met by the faintest of headers by Gouffran to send it past a flat-footed Ben Foster.
And the Magpies continued to carry the greater threat with only a smart double-save from Foster preventing a second goal from the visitors.
First he parried a shot from Steven Taylor after the Newcastle centre-back had beaten the offside trap.
Then he dived to his left to turn away a long-range Cisse effort.
And 10 minutes before half-time it could have been disastrous for Albion when a dreadful pass by Jonas Olsson was intercepted by Cisse.
He raced clear but sent an effort narrowly over the bar.
In first-half stoppage-time there was a moment of controversy when Billy Jones was tripped by James Perch after a surge towards goal.
Referee Mike Jones awarded a free-kick but replays showed the offence took place inside the box.
Early in the second half stand-in Newcastle goalkeeper Rob Elliot spilled a simple shot from Marc-Antoine Fortune at the feet of Shane Long, who had been introduced as a substitute at the interval.
But Elliot redeemed himself by diverting the Irishman’s shot around the post.
And moments later Lukaku met a Brunt corner with a header that thudded against the crossbar.
Neither Elliot nor the woodwork could stop Jones on 64 minutes, however. Fortune surged down the right and fed Brunt, who combined with Lukaku to set up Jones and the full-back finished with his left foot.
By Steve Madeley
more stories
Billy Jones grabbed his first ever Albion goal to earn the Baggies a draw against Newcastle at The Hawthorns.
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West Bromwich Albion boss Steve Clarke today revealed he could become a No.2 again – but insisted he has unfinished business at The Hawthorns.
Evergreen striker Kevin Phillips admits Ryan Giggs is inspiring him to join the ‘Football at Forty’ club next season.
April 20, 2013 5:39 pm
Another draw and a team that did not start playing untill the second half
what is wrong with them , no doubt ready for there holidays , when supporters
are paying a lot of money to watch them .
Could not understand the team selection ,why play Fortune when he is out of
contract at the end of the season and no doubt moving on , why not atart
with Long and Lukaku , good job we got the early season points or we would
have been fighting relegation .
No doubt Clarke can see he as a big job on his hands and no doubt little money
to spend .
If Murhino goes to Chelsea you can see him jumping ship ,no premier ship manager
would come to us with little money to spend ,not blaming Peace ,but he needs a
backer to put money in as Cardiff are ready to spend big money , like Southampton
and so as they all have rich backers .Cannot beleive we cannot find the right guy .
I can see where you are coming from with Fortune, he is aging, contract also ending, should have started Long instead.
April 20, 2013 6:55 pm April 20, 2013 7:07 pm
r sherwood, i did'nt see the game, but we gained a point, what on earth has money got to do with todays result.
earlier in the season their supporters could'nt get their hats on with how unlucky we were, we played them off the park.
IF we had got three points, i wonder how your post would have read.
April 20, 2013 7:16 pm
Complete muppet. Do not come on here if you don't have anything sensible to say. Spending money does in no way guarantee success! Would you really want a rich benefactor taking the reigns? Look at Portsmouth. Cardiff can spend as much ad they like but they are still heavily in debt. Very fine margins the premier league. I'm happy Jeremy doesn't put the clubs future in jeopardy. We need to build year and year and enjoy the ride. It's not that long ago we were losing 1-5 at home to Crewe!!!!!!
April 20, 2013 6:18 pm
Why is it we only try our best in second half of matches?
First half of a lot of games this season have been abysmal.
We also rely to much on Lukaku, lost count of the amount of times we lumped it up to him, a little worrying to be honest.
We are crying out for a winger who can support our forwards, Billy Jones is the only man providing width at the minute.
Much improved second half, thought Dorrans had another good game,seems a bit more "up for it" now and is more aggressive, Jones is improving game by game.
One last thing i'm still not impressed with how easily Shane Long goes down looking for free kicks, starting to remind me more and more of Doyle each week.
April 20, 2013 6:38 pm
Started poorly and never got going in the first half which seems to have been the pattern this season. Second half performance was a lot better and thought point just about fair result on the day.
I think we again sorely missed Mulumbu and for me it is essential that we give him a new contract as he is one of the key players that we need to build our team around.
Probably the most worrying aspect about today's game was how both GM and ollie seemed to struggle against their forward line however we all have off days.
Overall we can't be disappointed about this season and I hope we achieve the fifty point mark that the team deserves however I think my nephew Stato hit the nail on the head as we left the ground by rightly saying that with the same players we look a shadow of the side ending the season compared to the team that started the season, think the close season could be very interesting and again reiterate we need to get the spine of our team secured and build around it to continue this squads development
April 20, 2013 6:55 pm
spirited 2nd half,first half could have been 3 down,couldnt believe pen decision,ref was awful all game in decisions for us and newcastle.draw fair result but we do need a win fröm somewhere.
April 20, 2013 6:57 pm
Disappointed with a point as i was hoping to take all 3 and to see a good performance as it think were long overdue one. First of all, i thought Clarke got it wrong, I can not stand seeing Brunt and Dorrans in the wide positions, there both central players and i think we completely lack width. I also can not put my finger on the second half improvement issue, it seems that every week, we are a team of two halves. With some winnable fixtures remaining, would be nice to get another win and break the record. COYB!
April 20, 2013 7:35 pm
It's obvious that Steve is trying out his squad players and formations before the end of the season. So not expecting too much over the remaining games,. but the worrying aspect is, irrespective of who he plays, is that we are a second half team. Why can't we come out of the blocks firing ?
April 20, 2013 7:57 pm
Disappointing, but not really suprising after Newcastle getting a pastin last game.
Furthermore Albion have had just two games of late. However like many fans
will criticise SC poor selections, he realised his mistake again and attempted to
rectify.The plus points are Billy Jones improvement. It's been poor form this year
but pleased we have not got into Europa Lge, look what it's done to Newcastle and Stoke. Still dreaming of Jeremy making a bid for Lukaku.
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