West Brom sting Forest with late Matt Phillips leveller - 7M sport

West Brom sting Forest with late Matt Phillips leveller



Posted Wednesday, August 08, 2018 by PA

West Brom sting Forest with late Matt Phillips leveller

Matt Phillips grabbed a late equaliser as West Brom snatched a point against Nottingham Forest in a thrilling 1-1 draw at the City Ground.

Adlene Guedioura’s 25-yard strike looked to have won the game for Aitor Karanka’s men, only for Phillips to crash home a leveller in the 87th minute as Forest were left to rue a series of missed chances.

West Brom handed a debut to Manchester City loanee Tosin Adarabioyo and it was in-demand Jay Rodriguez who had the game’s first chance, but Tobias Figueiredo did enough to put him off his stride and he could only hook his shot well over.

At the other end, a sweeping move resulted in Forest’s record signing Joao Carvalho having an effort deflected just wide.

Carvalho fired another shot narrowly over and Lewis Grabban cracked an effort just wide as Forest began to take control.

Gil Dias, though, then did brilliantly to clear as a diving Rodriguez launched himself at the ball as West Brom threatened from a corner.

Baggies keeper Sam Johnstone was called into action for the first time as he beat away a Grabban shot, before Forest should have taken the lead seven minutes before the break.

Grabban took advantage of a defensive error, but with only Johnstone to beat he dawdled and the visiting goalkeeper thwarted him. The ball ran loose, with Joe Lolley eventually sending his looping effort over the bar.

Lolley was in the thick of it again a minute later when he forced Johnstone into another save.

Figueiredo got in a superb block to deny Phillips, before Carvalho then slipped in Lolley, whose deflected shot went out for a corner.

Forest were almost to regret not taking advantage of their first-half dominance when Rodriguez contrived to shank Phillips’ superb cross high and wide on the stroke of half-time when less than two yards from goal.

Guedioura was renowned for scoring spectacular goals during his first spell at Forest, and the Algerian produced a piece of magic just before the hour mark, cracking a low 25-yard drive past the despairing dive of Johnstone to give Forest the lead.

West Brom boss Darren Moore responded by introducing new signing Dwight Gayle, signed in a swap season-long loan deal a few days ago, with Salomon Rondon heading to Newcastle.

A wayward pass from Tendayi Darikwa handed Phillips a sight of goal, but his shot was deflected over.

Guedioura almost scored a remarkable goal when an Albion attack broke down. As he raced through his own half, he let fly from what must have been 70 yards and the back-pedalling Johnstone just managed to tip the ball over.

But the home side were nearly caught out a minute later as the visitors sensed an opportunity to gain an undeserved equaliser, and Forest were relieved to see Gayle’s shot hit a post and rebound to safety.

The danger, though, was not over as the Baggies pushed forward again and Phillips was given too much space on the right and he smashed a shot past Costel Pantilimon.

Phillips then hit a post, only for Harvey Barnes to strike the rebound against the woodwork, before Grabban’s header was cleared off the line at the other end in a pulsating finish.

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