Sam Allardyce rues missed chance for West Brom after draw with Fulham

Posted Sunday, January 31, 2021 by PA

Sam Allardyce revealed his frustration after West Brom’s point against relegation rivals Fulham.

Ivan Cavaleiro’s late header earned the Cottagers a 2-2 draw at The Hawthorns on Saturday.

Kyle Bartley and Matheus Pereira had cancelled out Bobby Decordova-Reid’s opener after Fulham threatened to run riot in the first half.

Decordova-Reid also hit the post but Albion improved after the break, although Allardyce feels it was a missed chance with the second-bottom Baggies six points from safety.

He said: “It’s ended up with a draw which probably neither of us really wanted.

“We should have won it. When you come in 1-0 down at half-time and Fulham have been the better side we had to change the way we were playing.

“We dominated for the first 30 minutes of the second half and got 2-1 up but once again our frailties defensively have let us down.

“We cannot expect to score three goals every time to win it. The biggest disappointment was how we let their goal in with their man (Cavaleiro) arriving at the far post with no-one marking him.

“It came after a spirited, honest, fightback from the players to get themselves back in the game. We had to play simple, quality football.”

Decordova-Reid struck after 10 minutes when he fired past Sam Johnstone from Aleksandar Mitrovic’s pass.

He hit the post soon after when Mitrovic’s pass sent him clean through while Johnstone saved from Ademola Lookman and Ruben Loftus-Cheek shot over.

Albion’s confidence looked shot but they hit back two minutes into the second half when Bartley steered in Pereira’s cross.

Pereira then made it 2-1 after 66 minutes, turning in debutant Mbaye Diagne’s low centre for his sixth goal of the season.

But Cavaleiro levelled with 13 minutes left after he headed in Harrison Reed’s brilliant cross from the right to leave Fulham – winless in 10 top-flight games – four points from 17th-placed Brighton.

Manager Scott Parker said: “The game should have been out of sight at half-time. We were fantastic in the first half and they had to make changes 20 minutes into the game.

“We had some big chances and it should have been done. We didn’t do well enough in the first 15 minutes of the second half but the substitutes came on and did very well.

“We’re disappointed it’s not three points but we’ll keep moving.

“It’s a useful point but there were big chances to kill the game off and we’re not on the right side of the big moments. We’re playing some good football but you need to put those moments away. It should have been 3-0 or 4-0 at half-time.

“There are 18 games left and there’s still a long way to go. There have been a lot of strange results and this is a team going in the right direction.”