• 6 months ago
Lewis Cox and Jonny Drury analyse West Brom's draw with Watford.
The home side spurned first half chances - before Watford went into a 2-0 second half lead.
Edo Kayembe opened the scoring before Mileta Rajovic doubled the advantage and looked to have buried the Baggies.
But Brandon Thomas-Asante and a late strike from Darnell Furlong snatched a point.
Transcript
00:00 Hello Baggies fans, welcome to ExpressAndStart.com. My name is Jonny Drew, I'm here at the Hawthorns
00:12 alongside Lewis Cox after Albion have produced a second comeback in four days to snatch a
00:17 point against Watford. Pretty dreadful performance all round, they were 2-0 down with about 20
00:21 minutes to go and then Brandon Thomas Asante out of nowhere followed by a late great goal
00:26 from Darnell Furlong. Coxie, I suppose the result is all that matters at the end of the
00:31 day but it was a pretty underwhelming performance from Albion to them.
00:35 One of the moments of the season, I do agree, my first point was going to be one of the
00:38 moments of the season, I think that Furlong strike really in the grand scheme of things
00:42 in terms of the moment itself, the significance and the context of the point we're at this
00:47 season, being at home again, having expected to win, the general form, results elsewhere
00:53 certainly. So yeah, massive point, massive comeback, two down with 20 to go, no one saw
00:59 that coming, no one here at the Albion were as bad as you said really. First half didn't
01:06 start well for 10 minutes maybe but didn't really flat after that, the whole place was
01:11 flat really. It was a real struggle and the second half even more so I think it's fair
01:15 to say. Not long after half time was it the visitors went ahead and yeah, bye bye, 67-68
01:22 minutes when the Hornets bagged their second, it looked like an absolute off-goal task.
01:27 Didn't seem possible really but maybe we shouldn't have doubted Carlos Pogba and Albion to be
01:31 honest Jonny because I think they're very good at not losing games now. They're very
01:35 good at finding a way, whether that's to scrape a win that maybe isn't deserved or come back
01:41 and nick a point that wasn't deserved necessarily. They're finding a way, one defeat in 12 is
01:47 a real effort isn't it? Southampton here obviously.
01:50 And being in seven as well.
01:51 Yeah seven and obviously Southampton could come back again this season couldn't it? We
01:56 don't know but for Albion I think a grit and a resilience that is worth praising really
02:01 and worth singling out. That's the story of today for me and yeah a massive finale obviously
02:07 done for a long, the unlikely hero I think it's worth saying. Yeah who'd have thought
02:11 it but we're very happy with the point I think.
02:13 Not very happy, I don't know if you can hear that in the background but that was Daz Hale
02:16 from BBC WN wrapping up his show. Just looked at the time, it's six o'clock so if you've
02:21 got any of that in the background it's getting very exciting. But yeah just in terms of the
02:25 performance I think the point is welcomed given what's happened, given what's happened
02:31 elsewhere as well, with results going for Albion but just the performance today I thought,
02:37 you know we don't know what's inside these players' heads but the performance has certainly
02:41 led me to think that maybe a couple of these turned up today thinking not that Watford
02:46 were going to roll over but the job's almost done and it was up until those last two goals
02:50 it was a bit of a, and you know you could argue at Milwall up until the goal, a bit
02:55 of a wake up call really because it's far from over. It's getting closer.
02:58 Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah, fair enough point. I think I heard Carlos Corbijn say post-match
03:04 Watford are an energetic side and I thought that's probably a fair comment. They are a
03:09 good side. Energy, legs, athleticism, I really liked Daley Bashir in the middle of the park,
03:13 I think he not ran the show but he was really prominent and other players as well and I've
03:20 been looked leggy, lethargic, a bit mentally as well out of ideas I think. Early chances,
03:26 Thomas Assante, they should have scored, it's a different game then isn't it? That was a
03:30 really big moment. Instead kind of petered out, it was flat inside the stadium full stop,
03:35 wasn't it atmosphere wise? Very little to get excited about if you're in the stands
03:39 and yeah a bit of a struggle all round. Maybe there's a point there, look I think as head
03:45 coaches and managers go, Carlos all round is up there with the least that would allow
03:49 or stand for complacency. No that's the other side of it. Absolutely and I think it's a
03:54 professional enough group who actually post-match I've been down chatting with Dino Furlong
03:58 of course, man of the hour and he's sort of reiterated it to him really, being fifth for
04:06 as long as I've been, I've been, which is weird really frankly, you very rarely get
04:10 a season where for October now, October, November you're in the same position for five, six
04:15 months, it just doesn't really happen does it, unless you're runaway leaders or rock
04:19 bottom really. So that is weird sorry that I haven't been pegged back, the top four have
04:25 been sort of too far clear but the job they've done to keep the, you know to mentally keep
04:29 going, you're winning games, you're not losing games but you're not moving up, that must
04:33 be quite annoying to be honest. And if there's any complacency like you said, you know Carlos
04:37 Coman wouldn't let that creep in but I suppose it does sometimes creep in you know subconsciously.
04:44 Yeah, yeah, no it can, yeah, yeah, it's hard to keep going when you're not, as I was suggesting,
04:49 you're not moving really or you know, it must feel like you know for a few weeks, maybe
04:55 even months now, we're going to finish fifth season, you know, done, it's quite hard to
04:59 stay mentally sharp, switched on when you're not moving is my point and it's quite interesting
05:04 really and I think the players, the squad and the head coach deserve credit for that,
05:09 keeping them sort of mentally switched on and I just think it was a lethargic display
05:14 today, you know, it was the first half at Millwall wasn't it, when you were down there
05:17 the other day, I think it was a lethargic 60-70 minutes today but full credit the…
05:22 I don't think they like these two weekends because they weren't really good last week.
05:25 No, it's a good point, it's a good point that, you know, it's a squad game though
05:29 Johnny, you know Brady Deangarna not starting today, you know, came on, two assists, you
05:34 know, and the changes in the game, you know, we finished with Adam Reach and Janin Villa
05:40 as a centre midfield pairing, I would have never expected that would we and then Wallach
05:43 comes on, a strength in depth, I would say obviously Vyman as well before the equaliser
05:48 and ironic that the right back pops up from 25 yards but yeah, I think a grit and a determination
05:54 as I said at the top to win games when maybe they shouldn't, to draw games when maybe
05:59 they shouldn't, is going to serve Arben well I think when we get to the playoffs,
06:02 this new, this sort of mentality that the club has driven and the squad, yeah, yeah,
06:08 yeah, absolutely a backbone, a desire and I think it's serving them well massively
06:12 on days like today and given what went on elsewhere, given being 2 down and such a
06:17 poor display, it could have really, you know, really unsettled the squad in this decisive
06:21 period, couldn't it? But instead, hopefully this final 20 minutes, final, certainly final
06:26 five minutes has galvanised Albion for the remaining, what, six games now?
06:30 Yeah, six more left to go, six more to tick off, Albion have, I've just written this
06:35 actually, come back from the dead twice, maybe not so much at Millwall but certainly here,
06:40 it's quite apt really on Easter weekend, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but yeah,
06:45 there we go, Albion back from two, no bound, they looked buried but they've got a point
06:48 and they have made another step towards the playoffs with the results that have gone elsewhere
06:52 so final score here, Albion 2, Watford 2, all the rest of your reaction, you know,
06:56 know it's go to smithstar.com

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