Report: Defensive errors cost Rovers dear at West Brom

The Baggies pounced on individual errors from the visitors to turn a 1-0 deficit in to a 3-1 lead in a first half which brought five goals.

Rovers had taken the lead inside 30 seconds through Bradley Dack's first league goal of the season, while Bradley Johnson brought them back in to it in first half injury time.

Inbetween that, Matty Phillips, Jake Livermore and Grady Diangana made the most of some poor Rovers defending which proved their undoing.

The game was not even 30 seconds old when Rovers took the lead. Romaine Sawyers was robbed of possession when trying to turn on the edge of his own box by Lewis Travis, with Dack curling home from the edge of the box.

It was the perfect start for Tony Mowbray who made two changes  with the returns of Greg Cunningham and Adam Armstrong.

Both lined up on the Rovers left but struggled to contain the West Brom threat as Darnell Furlong and Matty Phillips poured forward down the Baggies’ right.

Phillips cross from the right for Matheus Pereira whose shot was blocked by Travis while Diangana, operating from the left, tested Walton with the hosts’ first shot of the game in the 16th minute which the Rovers ‘keeper held well.

West Brom were finding too much space down the flanks though as Rovers began to look vulnerable. But the equalising goal was all to avoidable as Cunningham looked in charge of the situation as he and Phillips battled for a long ball forward. But Cunningham was edged off the ball as his indecision cost him, with Phillips nipping in and firing beyond the despairing Walton.

The pressure was mounting on a Rovers defence that was beginning to creak. Furlong found too much room down the right to cross for Pereira whose header crept just past the post two minutes after the equaliser.

It felt only a matter of time before the Baggies got their noses in front, and but for Kyle Bartley heading straight at Walton from another right-wing cross, they would likely have.

So there was no surprise when a second West Brom goal arrived on the half hour. Furlong twice got away from Armstrong, the second time by muscling him off the ball, before pulling it back for Phillips. His chip towards the far post had Walton scrambling as the ball came back off the bar before being laid off for Livermore to curl home from 12 yards under no pressure.

By this time the pressure was becoming incessant from the hosts as Diangana crossed for Charlie Austin who turned over on the stretch.

The West Ham loanee, who was becoming an increasing threat, and put his side two goals up with a fine solo goal. Though Darragh Lenihan played a big role in it, his attempted clearance cannoning off the winger, who raced clear, held off the defender’s best attempts to halt his run before dinking the ball over the advancing Walton.

Rovers were on the ropes and in need of half-time quickly. But they were handed an unlikely lifeline out of nowhere with some equally poor West Brom defending. Lenihan’s header was spilled by Sam Johnstone, before a mass scramble ensued, ending with Bradley Johnson firing in from six yards.

That handed them a lifeline, but still prompted a change of tactics from Mowbray as the players emerged from the break as John Buckley and Joe Rothwell replaced goalscorer Johnson and Sam Gallagher, who had been largely anonymous.

That saw Dack go and lead the line, and it  brought a response that Mowbray would have hoped as his side began to dominate.

And they thought they had levelled in the 57th minute as Bartley hacked a Downing cross against his own bar, before Rovers bundled the rebound over the line, only for referee Tony Harrington adjudging there to have been a foul on goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.

A series of set plays offered the hosts the chance to regain their two goal lead which they would have done in the 65th minute were it not for a fine Bennett block on Austin’s shot which came after the Rovers captain failed to clear his lines.

Rovers needed more tempo in the game to find a way back in to .

Armstrong did just that when bursting down the left before drawing a foul from Nathan Ferguson, earning the Baggies defender a booking, and Rovers a free kick on the left edge of the box. Dack worked it short to Downing whose low shot clipped the outside of the post and went wide.

Things began to open up as the game ticked in to the final 20 minutes and a superb Baggies break almost brought them a fourth. Sawyers freed Diangna down the left who pulled back for Pereira to sweep just over first time.

There was no shortage of Rovers pressure, but little by way of chances as they turned to Danny Graham in the 78th minute.

Livermore had his sights on a second goal for the hosts though as Bennett could only clear as far as him, but his shot lacked the precision of his goal as it flew over.

But straight down the other end went Rovers as the full backs linked up, Bennett’s cross met by Cunningham whose downward header was saved by Johnstone at his near post.

Walton had to do similar from Semi Ajayi’s header from Phillips’ corner before central defensive partner Bartley missed a much easier chance from three yards, turning over the bar, as they failed to put the game beyond Rovers before negotiating the five added minutes. 

West Brom: Johnstone, Furlong, Ajayi, Bartley, Ferguson, Livermore, Sawyers Phillips, Pereira (Edwards, 89), Diangana (Krovinovic, 77), Austin (Zohore, 68)

Subs: Bond, O'Shea, Brunt, Robson-Kanu

Rovers: Walton, Bennett, Lenihan, Williams, Cunningham, Travis, Johnson (Buckley, 46), Dack, Downing, Armstrong (Graham, 78), Gallagher (Rothwell, 46)

Subs: Leutwiler, Nyambe, Evans, Rankin-Costello