Earnshaw double earns point for Baggies

Southampton 2 West Brom 2

Robert Earnshaw claimed his first Barclays Premiership goals with two in eight minutes for managerless West Brom at Southampton.

Saints are still looking for their first league win under head coach Steve Wigley, and only rescued a point thanks to Anders Svensson’s 86th-minute drive which deflected in off Paul Robinson.

Earnshaw had the Baggies fans chanting his name after taking just 80 seconds to reply in kind to Svensson’s flying header after 27 minutes for Saints.

Third-choice goalkeeper Alan Blayney – Antti Niemi was out with a knee injury suffered in training – was at fault with the equaliser but could do nothing about Earnshaw’s rifled effort for 2-1 eight minutes later.

In fact, the Wales striker, making only his fifth Albion start, could have had a hat-trick and more, missing two good chances before the midlanders settled in for the siege which almost brought them only their second Premiership win of the season.

Svensson’s late strike ensured they remain only a point clear of Saints but neither side looked Premiership quality on this evidence. It still seems almost unbelievable that Southampton could have smuggled a point from Arsenal at Highbury last week.

The first 25 minutes were virtually nondescript but had alo been practically all Saints. And it was no surprise when they took the lead through Svensson’s leaping header – just seconds after a penalty shout was turned down.

Mikael Nilsson made good progress into the area where he was strongly challenged by Robinson and went down. Referee Steve Bennett dismissed all spot-kick claims but within seconds they were irrelevant when Paul Telfer swung the ball into the goalmouth and Svensson spectacularly converted with an effort right in the corner.

Before Saints could savour their celebrations, though, they were pulled back level by Earnshaw’s first goal for West Brom.

Like Svensson, he also also took to the air to deflect the ball home with a subtle header from Zoltan Gera’s cross just 80 seconds later in the 29th minute.

Blayney, a Northern Ireland Under-21 cap, should have done better with the attempted save, but let the ball slip past him.

Saints’ gloom was doubled when Earnshaw struck again in the 36th minute, this time ramming home after Jonathan Greening’s cross from the right was deflected into his path.

It could have been even worse for Saints as Earnshaw chased a hat-trick. He looked certain to latch onto skipper Kanu’s clever pass but it just eluded him with only Blayney to beat.

Blayney then made partial amends for his error which conceded the first goal when he launched himself to push over Gera’s sharp free-kick.

After dominating matters and going ahead, Saints finished the first half in disarray and teenager Dexter Blackstock, mauled throughout by the massive Darren Moore, was booked for a frustrated challenge on Riccardo Scimeca.

Blayney knocked away two well-struck shots by Greening at the start of the second half and was mightily relieved when Earnshaw, clearly envisaging his hat-trick, launched himself to connect with the second rebound only to sky it over the bar from six yards.

But having survived those close calls, Saints eventually rebuilt the pressure and had sufficient chances to have won the game.

Kevin Phillips, back from a calf injury, went for glory instead of finding the unmarked Svensson with a simple square pass and saw his shot blocked.

Then Russell Hoult kept out Svensson’s close-range jab after good work by Rory Delap who, seconds later, failed to bury a header from a Telfer cross which looked a carbon copy of his two-goal raid at Highbury a week ago – until it skidded over the crossbar.

Saints tried everything, with centre-back Andreas Jakobsson replaced by midfielder Neil McCann and Brett Ormerod’s greater experience substituting for the battered enterprise of Blackstock in the last half-hour.

But Svensson’s deflected strike was all they could find before Delap let Hoult smother his soft shot from a plausible chance right at the death.