West Bromwich Albion 1 - Tottenham Hotspur 1

Summary:

Spurs hadn't lost since the opening day of the season, and when they took the lead after just fifteen minutes that situation didn't look much like changing, a looping pass finding Dele Alli who squeezed through Gareth McAuley and Jonas Olsson with ease to prod past Boaz Myhill. Whether Jonny Evans, playing defensive midfield for the suspended Claudio Yacob, would have dealt with it any better we'll never know.

Nonetheless, Albion didn't give up - far from it, in fact - and in the run up to half time Stephane Sessegnon threaded a pass through to Darren Fletcher who crossed for James McClean to head home from six yards.

Albion continued to have the better of the play in the second half and chances were few and far between for their visitors. Salomon Rondon battled hard up front and caused plenty of problems for their defence but kept failing to find the killer touch, having spurned the best opportunity with a first half header straight at Hugo Lloris.

Overall, another useful point (aren't they all at this stage of the season?) and one of the most entertaining Albion performances for some time, though as many will point out that isn't saying a lot. Albion remain in thirteenth place and Spurs in fifth.

Mark Koppel:

He who laughs last laughs longest. Chanting by the arrogant Spurs about how bad we were all back fired today as West Brom made a really strong come back and were the best team for at least the second half, if not longer. In fact if Rondon, just like last week, took his gilt edged chance we would have won this afternoon.

• Myhill 7 - Possibly hesitated a touch to come out for their goal but the wind played havoc and he held everything else today.
• Brunt 8 - Thought he was great today both in defence and passing forward. Was he a left back in a previous life?
• Dawson 6 - Solid but his passes forward again were poor.
• McAuley 7 - Simply strong and solid. No mistakes or silly free kicks this week. Also one or two very good blocks.
• Olson 7 - Started a little dodgy but got better as the game developed. Would have even scored if not for a great save by their keeper.
• Evans 7 - A better option here than Yacob. Hope we keep him in this position.
• McClean 8 - Quite possibly our best player today. One of the most determined players we have had in years. If he had a right foot he would a world beater.
• Morrison 7 - Great to see him play nearer Rondon second half. This is how we can be more dangerous.
• Fletcher 7- Not on the ball a great deal but when he was everything seemed to go to a West Brom player. Brilliant cross for McClean's goal.
• Sess 4- As last week, our weakest player today. Did one good turn just after we scored that seemed to lead to his injury and substitution.
• Rondon 7 - Ran his socks off today and caused problems for both Spurs Central Defenders with high balls. But didn't anticipate the cross second half that dropped to him and still worryingly doesn't look like a natural goal scorer at all.

Subs-

• Gardner 5 - Not sure what he offered today over and above the Calum or Saido options.

Talyllyn Baggie:

Walking up Halfords Lane we bumped into Tony Brown, who predicted a draw, so who was I to argue?

We then saw Roy Hodgson arrive to watch the game, so by now I was a bit star struck. I assume he wasn't impressed by Mr Kane's performance.

The game itself reminded me what proper league football used to be like - hard, uncompromising, with no quarter given.

As we were well beaten last season by Spurs, I was impressed by our resilient performance.

Onwards and upwards.

Brendan Clegg:

This was a very good point - one I'd have been very happy with prior to the game and extends our excellent return from a very tough last 3 games.

I agree with most of the other comments so just some brief observations of differences of opinion.

First half I thought we were poor for the opening 20 minutes, grew into the game to have the best of the first half after that and 2nd half we were generally inferior and on the back foot but created the better chances.

The goal we conceded was poor and loads were at fault. No midfielder tracked Alli's run, McAuley didn't deal with it, Dawson didn't seem to be alter to it or cover it and Myhill's starting position given the ball was hit from their half was poor. If he was on the edge of his own box it would be a simple catch. Awful all round.

After conceding, although perhaps more related to Evans understandable finding his feet, we kept the ball better, showed more patience and began to find Sess to feet.

Indeed, created the goal with a brilliant deceived pass where any one of our other midfielders or fullbacks in the same position had previously gone for percentage crosses or gone backwards.

I thought Sess epitomised our first half - for 20 minutes he was not at it, mainly in my opinion because we were hoof-happy and incoherent, then for 25 minutes he was our best player before he went off injured. His set pieces were awful but that seemed like a running theme whoever took them. But if he wasn't on the pitch we wouldn't have scored.

From his pass Fletcher showed great composure to pick out McLean who we know would smash through a brick wall to header that ball in. Had this been the other way around I doubt McLean would have shown the same quality of cross. Despite his customary effort in terms of quality on the ball he was having a stinker up to that point - as he and Pulis both pointed out in the after game interviews.

My biggest issue again was the Pulis decision to go with Gardner instead of McManaman. Once again we were left with no outball and with Gardner out of position. It's not like McManaman is much shorter or less hardworking. His pace and energy would've been a real asset but sadly his days for us might be numbered. It is inexplicable. I think we might've snuck a win with him on.

At the time of the substitution I made a half-hearted attempt to rally the Smethwick from its lazy and bizarre misogyny, but after to starting with "whooooaaaaaaa, we've got the best midfield in the world, we've got Morrison, er Gardner, Evans and Fletcher..." I gave up. My heart wasn't in it and clearly a female away fan was more interesting.

• Myhill - 6 Has been great for us but not great for the goal.
• Brunt - 7 Solid at the back and decent quality.
• Olsson - 8 Another impressive game if a bit loose with the ball.
• McAuley - 7 Could have done better for the goal but otherwise good.
• Daws - 6 As we know, good defensively but quality on the ball can be a real issue for us.
• Evans - 7 Struggled to find his bearings but his class shone through and he ended up being very impressive. I reiterate my worry that he's only 27. If Stones goes from Everton, Martinez would struggle to find a better value replacement even at 15-20 million.
• Fletcher - 7 Really struggled with their movement and pace but just look at the composure and quality of cross he showed for the goal.
• Mozza - 7 Busy, helped out with the high press again but not as influential as he can be because we struggled to find him in pockets for long periods.
• Sess - 6 Great pass for the goal and our only creative option.
• McLean - 7 Great goal, honest and hardworking but at times his quality was desperate and a stupid challenge at a crucial point in the game may have been a red with another ref.
• Rondon - 7 How do you mark a performance like this? He terrified their back 4, ran them ragged but missed 2 or 3 big chances. I guess if he scored 2 today you;d be talking a 9 and one of the great forward performances we've seen from an Albion striker in recent years. If he adds goals we've got some player - he looked quicker, stronger, ran his nuts off but was maybe a fraction too nice still and he really should have had 2 goals.

• Gardner - 6 Tried his best and actually created a couple of decent chances but also continued to look out of his depth on the wing.