A fantastic rearguard showing from Cardiff City helped earn a much-deserved point on the road as they held West Brom to a scoreless draw at The Hawthorns.
By Glen Williams
The Bluebirds were forced to ride out an early Albion onslaught, as well as a nightmare injury to Jamilu Collins just minutes into the game, but by the end of the 90 minutes they were giving as good as they got.
There was little in terms of clear-cut chances as far as City were concerned, and Ryan Allsop was called into action on more than one occasion. But few could argue the visitors were not good value for their point, meaning they have only one defeat in their first four matches of the campaign.
There were changes rang by Steve Morison ahead of kick-off. The manager has tried to keep as settled a team as possible so far, but, with fixtures now starting to pile up, he made three alterations from the team which dominated against Birmingham City at the weekend.
Cedric Kipre, unable to face his parent club, made way for debutant Jack Simpson, who had played only 45 minutes of football in pre-season ahead of the Hawthorns clash. Joe Ralls came in for Baggies old boy Romaine Sawyers and Sheyi Ojo replaced the in-form Callum O'Dowda.
Max Watters led the line for City once again, with Morison clearly throwing his backing behind the young striker.
However, Morison might as well have made four changes, because just a couple of minutes into the game, the Bluebirds endured a nightmare start. Jamilu Collins, trying to tackle Darnell Furlong, saw his knee get twisted after his foot got caught in the ground. It looked a really nasty one, with the Nigerian having to be aided to the substitutes' bench as O'Dowda was called into action at full-back.
It handed the hosts some initiative and Albion dominated the early proceedings. Jed Wallace, a quality operator at this level, looked the most likely to create for Steve Bruce's side and he did just that on the quarter-of-an-hour mark when he ghosted into the box before laying it back to Jake Livermore, who fired off a fierce shot straight at Ryan Allsop.
After a couple more headed chances minutes later, it looked as though Cardiff were clinging on. They couldn't get out of their own half and the home fans were roaring on their side.
But after weathering the early storm, the Bluebirds, who were in their grey away strip, sent Albion into the half-time team talk with a few things to think about. Sheyi Ojo went agonisingly close with a bent effort from the edge of the box just before Ryan Wintle hammered a low shot wide of the mark from range.
The Bluebirds did well to quieten down the hosts, who struggled to get going at the start of the second half. Changes were made on the hour as Sawyers and Kion Etete were introduced in a bid to re-ignite City's own fire.
West Brom continued to jab, while Cardiff looked for a haymaker on the break, but as we neared full-time, neither team looked likely to break the deadlock.
An assured defensive display from the visitors limited Steve Bruce's side to shots from range and hopeful crosses by the end, much to the dismay of The Hawthorns faithful. However, one such cross did force Allsop into action late on. Semi Ajayi sent a powerful header, just as the clock ticked over to 90 minutes, but the Bluebirds stopper got down quickly to his left and palmed it away to keep the scores locked at 0-0.
Cardiff looked threatening at times on the break, but did little to test David Button in the Albion goal.
A very well-earned point on the road and a third clean sheet in four league matches, a statistic which will delight Morison, no doubt. It's these sort of results which can prove telling when it comes to the end of the season.
West Brom XI: Button; Furlong, Ajayi, O'Shea, Townsend; Livermore (Molumby 45), Yokuslu; Wallace (Phillips 68), Swift (Robinson 68), Diangana, Grant (Reach 84).
Subs: Palmer, Gardner-Hickman, Bartley.
Cardiff City XI: Allsop; Romeo, Ng, Simpson, Collins (O'Dowda 9); Wintle, Rinomhota, Ralls (Sawyers 63); Ojo (Colwill 75), Watters (Etete 63), Philogene (Harris 75).
Subs: Alnwick, Denham.
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