"Staying up" chorused the home crowd in the second half, but they were singing too soon. Queens Park Rangers beat Stoke City and a 90th-minute equaliser from James Morrison denied Bolton Wanderers the win they needed so badly, leaving them still in the bottom three.
The visiting supporters sang "There's only one Roy Hodgson" as England's new manager avoided defeat in his penultimate match in charge of West Bromwich.
The home fans had nothing more to shout about, of course, and are left worrying about the final fixtures next Sunday, when Bolton travel to Stoke while QPR are at Manchester City.
Hodgson was given a lovely, heartfelt reception by Albion's away following, some of whom turned up in England shirts with flags bearing the cross of St George. They chanted his name before the kick-off as England's new manager tossed them T–shirts emblazoned with the words: "Premier League's finest fans". For those interested in such things, the West Bromwich team featured only three players qualified for his England team.
The Bolton crowd had more pressing matters on their minds, and a collective groan echoed around the Reebok when Kevin Davies blazed over from barely three yards after Martin Petrov's cross had reached him at the far post.
Their apprehension would have been exacerbated but for the reflex save with which Adam Bogdan repelled Gareth McAuley's close-range header. Shane Long then beat Bogdan with a shot on the turn from six yards, but saw the ball bounce out off the goalkeeper's left-hand upright.
It came as a huge relief for the home crowd, then, when Petrov gave Bolton the lead from the spot midway through the first half. Mark Davies was sandwiched and brought down in front of goal by Keith Andrews and Youssouf Mulumbu, enabling the balding Bulgarian to tuck the consequent penalty low inside Ben Foster's right-hand post.
Graham Dorrans should have equalised after 58 minutes, but shot straight at Bogdan from near the penalty spot
Bolton would have doubled the margin after 70 minutes had not Foster produced a save of international class to deny Kevin Davies. Within a minute, however, it was 2-0 as Petrov's centre from the left provoked a comedy of errors in the goalmouth where Liam Ridgewell smacked the ball against Billy Jones, from where it rebounded past their startled goalkeeper.
Game over? Hardly. Brunt pulled one back after 72 minutes to condemn the crowd to an anxious finale and local hearts were broken when Morrison, on as substitute, equalised in the 90th minute. Read More
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