Albion keep Palace hanging on

Cheer up Palace, it could have been worse.

A fearless Albion frustrated The Eagles with a toughly fought 1-1 draw tonight which meant that the relegation issues is still undecided.

As for Albion, it was a great test of character to deal with a never-say-die Palace side that was fighting for Championship survival.

Dorrans was a part of everything good about the Albion tonight but was withdrawn near the end as he became the target for some rash challenges. Olsson suffered the same management decision.

An own goal from Steven Reid in the early stages of the first half gave Palace the lead as West Brom struggled to deal with one of many dangerous crosses from Ambrose.

But we didn’t have to wait too long for the Albion response. A well guided header from Tamas converted a fantastic Brunt free-kick and levelled the score.

As the game developed Palace were hanging on as Albion found their passing game. Only a superb performance from the Man-of-the-Match goalkeeper Speroni kept the scores level.

Roberto Di Matteo was pleased that the team had shown its integrity in a game that we didn’t need to win, though the single point helped him achieve the club record for a season’s point tally.

On the whole it was interesting to see the Baggies playing free from anxiety or pressure and trying for the win right until the final whistle.

I guess it will be very different next season.