West Bromwich Albion saw their survival hopes hit a dent on Monday night after a one-all draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Hawthorns.
The Baggies came in to the game having picked up seven crucial points in their last four games in the race for survival at the bottom of the premier league log, a run that includes a 2-5 hammering of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Wolves on their part were looking to continue their push for a place in Europe coming in on the back of a shocking 0-4 loss at home to Burnley in their last league outing.
The early exchanges were a little tepid and no real action came until the half hour mark, with Wolves controlling the game towards the interval.
Former Barcelona defender, Nelson Semedo robbed Semi Ajayi off the ball on the edge of the West Brom box and fired a shot on goal, but Sam Johnstone was up to the task to put the ball behind for a corner. The Nigerian would heave a sigh of relief as he didn't compound his team's woes.
Sam Allardyce was forced into an early change about five minutes later. Matt Philips coming on for Dara O'shea in what looked like a tactical switch to match their visitor's formation, having seen his team overpowered in the closing stages of the first half and it seemed to have yielded positive results, especially into the second interval.
It was the visitors who continued to push proceedings. With the wind getting heavier, West Brom were almost punished as a long range effort from Vitinha Ferreira in the 33rd minute, swerved in the air before dipping, but Johnstone was on hand again to parry away. West Brom were living dangerously.
The hosts finally got their own chance from a corner kick with about three minutes of the half to go. Mbaye Diagne headed the ball towards goal. He would be denied by Romain Saiss on the goal line. What an impact that would have had on their survival push.
Allardyce would have hoped for his team to go into the break level on scores but Wolves had other ideas. A goal from Fabio Silva, assisted by Semedo would be big Sam's heartbreaker.
A beautiful run from Owen Otasowie, cutting inside from the flank. He found Vitinha who flicked the ball to Semedo. The Portuguese had enough work to do to slide the ball onto the path of Silva, whose shot deflected off Kyle Bartley and looped into the net. Unlucky West Brom. What a tough goal to have conceded.
The second half started brightly for the hosts as they began to see more of the ball and mount pressure on Wolves.
Conor Townsend should have scored when he was put through by Matheus Pereira in the 55th minute, but his shot was straight at Rui Patricio and the goalkeeper was on top again barely seconds later to deny Chelsea loanee, Conor Gallagher a goalscoring opportunity.
The Baggies' pressure would eventually pay off in the 62nd minute when Diagne equalized. The Senegal international with his third goal of the campaign, fired home a powerful header from close range to finish off a Townsend cross.
The draw leaves West Brom 10 points adrift of safety with four matches left. Should the teams above them win their next games, the Baggies will be all but confirmed relegated into the championship.
Wolves on their part are fairly comfortable in midtable on 12th position and a place in Europe will only be a bonus to their campaign.
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