Joy at last for Robson as huge slice of luck helps Baggies

Manchester City 1 West Brom 1

The visitors’ rearguard battle after Thomas Gaardsoe’s early red card had not won any sympathy from their long-suffering fans, who had turned on a team that had failed to manage a single corner or shot on goal when Paul Robinson launched a speculative 84th-minute punt deep into City territory.

The ball bounced up on to Richard Dunne’s shin and flew past stranded Blues keeper David James and into the net to earn West Brom only their second point in eight games since Robson replaced Gary Megson.

“It was a stroke of luck,” admitted the former England captain. “When you have a man sent off so early in the game, it is always going to be difficult but you have to give us credit for working so hard after that.

“We managed to keep ourselves in the game and got the kind of break we haven’t had since I came to the club. Hopefully that will be a turning point for us now.”

West Brom remain at the foot of the table despite the result.

Given Robson’s association with their bitter rivals from Old Trafford, it was no surprise the Blues supporters were quick to seize on the discontent among the Albion fans, whose agitation erupted when their manager failed to introduce popular striker Robert Earnshaw until late in the second period.

“I know why the fans reacted the way they did because Robert is our top goalscorer and they want to see him play,” said Robson.

“But given the position we were in, I wanted to keep things tight for as long as we could and then give it a real go in the last 10 minutes, which is what we did.”

Ironically, Earnshaw was the nearest West Brom player to Dunne when the otherwise untroubled Irishman made his calamitous blunder but though the striker rushed towards the City goal looking to ram the ball home, it entered the net before he arrived.

It was an ending chillingly familiar for Keegan, whose side have now failed to beat three sides on home soil, including Blackburn and Norwich, who have arrived at Eastlands in rock bottom spot.

Twelve months ago, Middlesbrough actually beat City without having a shot on target, Jihai Sun the unlucky man on that occasion. At least Keegan was spared that misery this time, thanks to Nicolas Anelka’s seventh goal of the campaign, a curling first-half free-kick that ended a two-month drought for the Frenchman, whose Blues future continues to be shrouded in uncertainty.

But, with his side lacking an inventive spark and West Brom keeper Russell Hoult denying the hosts when they did break through, Keegan was honest enough to admit it had been a big letdown for City’s biggest crowd of the season.

“There are no excuses,” he said. “It was a poor performance and a poor result - a really bad day for us. I told the players at half-time we needed a second goal but we just didn’t create enough.”

MANCHESTER CITY: James, Mills, Distin, Dunne, Jordan (Onuoha 45), Shaun Wright-Phillips, Barton, Bosvelt, Sibierski, Fowler, Anelka.

WEST BROM: Hoult, Scimeca (Albrechtsen 64), Gaardsoe, Purse, Robinson, Greening (Earnshaw 82), Johnson, Clement, Wallwork, Gera (Hulse 76), Horsfield.

Referee: A D’Urso (Essex).