Sheff Utd reclaim top spot from Leeds with point, Baggies stay eighth
Albion have now drawn 10 of past 11 Championship games
Blades stretch unbeaten run to eight matches
Live Reporting
Alex Hoad
Another top draw Sundaypublished at 17:15 Greenwich Mean Time 8 December 2024
17:15 GMT 8 December 2024
FT: West Brom 2-2 Sheff Utd
Image source, PA Media
Well it might not have been the 4-4 I alluded to before kick-off but it was rip-roaring Championship fare slugged out by two teams I think we can safely say will be in the end-of-season shake-up.
West Brom showed quality in the first half-hour to take the lead and then character to restore parity after Sheffield United showcased their own resilience with two goals in little over a minute to turn the game on its head before the break.
A fitting way to bring down the curtain on an EFL programme played in filthy conditions.
We'll be back tomorrow for a local derby in League One as Peterborough and Northampton face-off, and of course we'll be right here for a full programme of Championship action with seven games on Tuesday night and another five on Wednesday.
Thanks for your company this afternoon, try to stay warm and dry and enjoy what's left of your weekend!
Read the reportpublished at 17:12 Greenwich Mean Time 8 December 2024
17:12 GMT 8 December 2024
FT: West Brom 2-2 Sheff Utd
Our intrepid reporter Ged Scott has braved the horrible conditions at The Hawthorns today.
So, please do him the honour of reading his match report from the Baggies' latest draw - a result that took Sheffield United back to the top of the Championship.
Click on the 'report' tag at the top of the page to do so.
'Another draw but Albion showed good character'published at 16:58 Greenwich Mean Time 8 December 2024
16:58 GMT 8 December 2024
FT: West Brom 2-2 Sheff Utd
Tony 'Bomber' Brown West Brom's all-time leading goalscorer on BBC Radio WM
I enjoyed the first half, it was more intriguing.
Albion shown good character to come back into it but couldn't find that winner. They could have lost this and I'm sure Carlos Corberan will be pleased in that respect.
But what people will be talking about is that it's a another draw and two points lost at home.
They've got to start winning football games and stop putting themselves under so much pressure.
I suppose a point against this Sheffield United side that has just come out of the Premier League is good. They could have easily lost this game but they kept going.
Torbjorn Heggem is the latest name in the book after a foul on the technically excellent Callum O'Hare.
Callum Styles is being withdrawn by Carlos Corberan, with Mason Holgate, the on-loan Everton defender, coming on for the last eight minutes and change.
Mikey Johnston is too good to do this. Tom Fellows' cross from the right drifts over everyone and is chested down by Johnston at the far post, only to lose composure and lash a half-volley well over the bar when he could see the whites of Michael Cooper's eyes in the Blades goal.
West Brom are not seemingly content to settle for a 10th draw in 11 games, and fifth straight at home. They are playing positively, but the Blades look dangerous on the break, of course.
Mr Webb and the dark artspublished at 16:36 Greenwich Mean Time 8 December 2024
16:36 GMT 8 December 2024
West Bromwich Albion 2-2 Sheffield United
Ged Scott BBC Sport at The Hawthorns
Maybe it's just because I'm a bit old-school and I can
the original hard-nosed, tough tackling former Chelsea and QPR stopper Dave Webb, whose opponents used to really know when they'd been tackled.
But we appear to have a
referee here in this latter-day David Webb who does actually know the difference between
a foul and a dive.
He's still managed to dish out four yellow cards today - but he's been pretty consistent in not falling for some players' attempts to win free-kicks.
Albion's fans were seeking a red card for Rak-Sakyi going down too easily. But let's just be grateful that this is one ref who wasn't conned.
Callum O'Hare (centre) scored his second Sheffield United goal in three games
Ged Scott at The Hawthorns
BBC Sport England
Draw specialists West Bromwich Albion shared the spoils for an astonishing 10th time in 11 games as they held Sheffield United at The Hawthorns.
But the Blades' point was still enough to send them back above Leeds United to the top of the Championship table.
In pouring rain in the Black Country, the Baggies led through Torbjorn Heggem's early header, only to be pegged back by two goals in two minutes, scored by Callum O'Hare and Tyrese Campbell.
But, unlike so many of Albion's previous drawn home games this season - six in their first eight games - this was a comparative classic to gladden the heart in the almost brutally cold, wet conditions.
And they got a deserved but fortuitous point when Tom Fellows' 62nd-minute cross was deflected outrageously in to level.
Albion have now drawn with all the top four, having had goalless draws at home to Leeds United and Burnley and also at Sunderland.
But, having been top in mid-September, Carlos Corberan's team have now won just once in 13 games - and are 10 points behind Sheffield United.
Image source, Rex Features
Image caption,
Torbjorn Heggem got on the end of Alex Mowatt's cross to head his first goal for West Bromwich Albion
It looked comfortable for Albion for the first half-hour as they took a well warranted early lead.
Heggem's header from Alex Mowatt's left-foot inswinging right-wing corner was the summer g's first goal for the club.
But Albion were pierced by the Blades twice in quick succession - and winger Harrison Burrows was the supply line each time.
First, his low cross cannoned on off two Albion defenders and into the path of O'Hare, who stabbed home as keeper Alex Palmer failed to react.
Then, when the Blades spread it wide again, Burrows was left with too much room and he was able to guide over an even more dangerous delivery, which Campbell coverted.
It was a sixth goal in eight games for the free-transfer August g, who was allowed to leave Stoke City at the end of last season.
However, in the deteriorating, rain-lashed second-half conditions as Storm Darragh continued to blow fiercely, Albion enjoyed a huge stroke of luck just past the hour.
Fellows' attempted cross from the right corner of the area deflected wickedly into the ground off Gus Hamer and then looped almost comically over keeper Michael Cooper's reach into the top-left corner.
Who's next?
Albion are back in home action again on Wednesday night when they entertain Frank Lampard's Coventry City, before a Sunday lunchtime date at Watford.
The Blades have another tough road trip on Wednesday, at Millwall, followed by Saturday's home game with Wayne Rooney's Plymouth Argyle.
West Bromwich Albion head coach Carlos Corberan told BBC Sport:
"We lost concentration in the box to allow them to score their two goals. It is frustrating.
"In the second half we managed to get back to how we performed in the first 20 minutes."
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder told BBC Sport:
"We were up against a really good team. We knew this was a massive test for us. and we showed great character to overturn a lead the way we did.
"So I'm delighted with that. As far as I'm concerned, that's our best, hardest-earned point of the season. It was so important we got something.
"We could easily have decided it wasn't going to be our day, let's get back on the bus and get home and get in front of the fire. But they didn't.
"It was tough out there. But this side are learning on the job. We had six 22-year-olds on the park at one stage playing against men, in men's conditions. But they fought back and got a result."
West Brom have lost each of their last three league games against Sheffield United, with each match ending exactly 2-0. The Baggies have never endured a longer losing streak against this opposition, with this fixture having been played 112 times previously across EFL history.
Sheffield United have lost three of their last five away league games against West Brom (W2), whilst only one of the last eight such fixtures played between these sides have seen both sides score.
West Brom have drawn nine of their last 10 league games (W1), while they could draw five league games in a row at home for the first time since December 2003.
Sheffield United have won six of their last seven league games (D1), keeping five clean sheets in that run. Indeed, no side has recorded more clean sheets in the Championship this term than the Blades (12 – level with Burnley).
After losing his first league meeting with West Brom (2-1 in December 2018), Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has only lost one of his five games against them in the EFL since then, winning three of them (D1).