Independent
Menu areas
Menu areas
Close
Cardiff City’s Mark McGuinness meets Callum Robinson of West Bromwich Albion during the Sky Bet Championship match at The Hawthorns. Tim Goode / PA Wire.
Two red cards were shown at the final whistle as tempers boiled at the end of the 1-1 tie between West Brom and Cardiff at The Hawthorns.
Callum Robinson lifted the opener from James Collins came up in the 34th minute to score a point for Albion, but the goal was overshadowed by disciplinary incidents.
The Baggies had already sent off midfielder Alex Mowatt as their stuttering form in the Sky Bet Championship dropped to three Games were extended without a win.
West Brom goalkeeper Sam Johnstone and Cardiff defender Aden Flint were then left in the penalty area after a hand-to-hand combat involving most of the players after an alleged push by Cardiff’s Marlon Pack at Conor Townsend Bluebirds, who referee Thomas Bramall did not consider to be sacked full-time, was worth a spot kick.
The mass confrontation seemed to have been triggered by the arrival of Albion’s head coach Valerien Ismael on the field to be what preceded the latter two layoffs.
Albion had missed two early opportunities to take the lead. Karlan Grant hit in from left and slammed a heavy low drive past the far post, and Robinson went even closer with a great curling shot, which was blocked by goalkeeper Alex Smithies with an equally beautiful one-handed save.
Cardiffs first threat came in the 34th minute – and within seconds they took the lead.
Joe Ralls’ stabbed shot narrowly deflected off Matt Clarke after Cedric Kipre headed a long throw away, but Collins beat Clarke to the The resulting corner, which Ralls swung past Johnstone with a header.
New Albion signing and US international Daryl Dike was shown to the audience at halftime.
The presence of the 21-year-old striker appeared to be having the desired effect when the Baggies equalized in the 48th minute. Grant showed a great backward pass to filter out Robinson, who stayed calm to take down Smithies with a left foot.
Get the facts about the Irish with our football correspondent Daniel McDonnell and an expert team of writers with our free weekly newsletter Soccer scene.
Enter your email address
This field is required
registration
West Brom’s substitute Grady Diangana quickly made an impression. The winger stabbed Smithies in the fingers with a rising shot, then saw his replacement being headed off by Flint’s ricochet.
The game was on and Cardiff responded with a shot from Will Vaulks that went over the bar flew before ralls cut high and wide.
Vaulks was then the victim of a long tackle by Mowatt on the sideline, in which the midfielder was sent off 14 minutes before the end – and then the fireworks at the final whistle.
Independent
seek
seek
A Mediahuis website
© Independent.ie
Keywords:
