Brandon Thomas-Asante must feel like a lottery winner – Steve Bruce

Posted Saturday, September 03, 2022 by PA

Steve Bruce claimed West Brom hero Brandon Thomas-Asante must have felt like he had won the lottery after scoring the last-gasp equaliser to earn a 1-1 draw against Burnley at The Hawthorns.

Thomas-Asante, a £300,000 signing from Salford just before the transfer deadline, came off the bench to score in the eighth minute of time added on.

His strike earned dominant Albion a deserved share of the spoils just as it looked like Jay Rodrigeuz’s 30th-minute penalty was going to send Burnley top of the Sky Bet Championship.

“It’s a great success story, isn’t it?” said Bruce.

“I’m delighted the kid got a goal. It was quite refreshing to see him with his mum and dad – it was a bit of a throwback to someone who feels he’s just won the lottery.

“And after that, he probably feels he has.”

West Brom wasted numerous chances throughout only to trail at half-time.

Jed Wallace and Kyle Bartley both hit the woodwork before Rodriguez coolly side-footed home from the spot, his fourth goal of the season.

On-loan Southampton striker Nathan Tella won the penalty when he was brought down by goalkeeper David Button.

But Thomas-Asante scooped home late on after John Swift’s cross was knocked back across by Burnley defender Connor Roberts.

Bruce added: “It was a great ball from Swifty. We had umpteen chances. We deserved it.”

Bruce revealed his frustration at missing out on signing Fulham midfielder Josh Onomah, on loan, and Brighton midfielder Steven Alzate after the paperwork for both failed to arrive with the EFL.

“We’re devastated, disappointed, angry and frustrated about what happened yesterday,” said Bruce.

“I’m not going to go into details because I don’t think that would be right.”

Burnley manager Vincent Kompany admitted his players were fatigued and was relieved to emerge with a point.

“I’ve been long enough in the game to recognise it’s a good point,” he said.

“It’s the first time where we’ve looked a bit leggy. I’m not saying we didn’t put in the effort because we always do – the boys were putting their bodies in the way to make it as hard as they could to make it difficult for West Brom to cross.

“That gave us a platform to defend the crosses but in the end, we didn’t take care of the ball and I think a lot of it was due to the players being tired.

“I could see they were really tired out there. We were playing against a team that could have got the three points. So it’s a good point for us.

Kompany insists he is not using the punishing Championship schedule as an excuse.

“It’s been game after game but I have no complaints,” he said.

“It’s exactly what I wanted because that’s why the Championship is special.

“We just kept giving the ball away.”