Daryl Dike made a goalscoring return from injury in Albion’s PL2 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Monday evening.
The American striker, who was joined by fellow senior players David Button, Martin Kelly and Kenneth Zohore at The Hawthorns, completed an encouraging 45 minutes in front of Carlos Corberán - despite Forest eventually running out 5-1 winners.
It was a nightmare start for Richard Beale’s side, who found themselves two-down inside the opening five minutes through Dale Taylor and Ollie Hammond goals.
Yet the hosts were given a lifeline midway through the first half when Billy Brewster received a second yellow card for Forest.
And they halved the deficit through Dike – the forward brilliantly earning a penalty, dusting himself down and squeezing the spot-kick home.
Forest managed to restore their two-goal lead ahead of the break, though, thanks to Alex Gibson-Hammond’s long-range effort.
Zohore replaced Dike at half time as Albion began their assault on the away team’s net, with Reyes Cleary curling over, Zac Ashworth firing a free-kick wide and Kelly seeing a shot saved.
But they were undone by a Forest counter-attack 20 minutes from time, Zach Abbott converting inside the Baggies box, before Kyle McAdam netted a late penalty, ensuring the points would go back to Nottingham.
Albion: Button; Hall, Kelly, Harper-Bailey (Shaw 45); Ingram (Wangusi 75), Whitwell, Mfuamba, Ashworth; Richards (Malcolm 67), Dike (Zohore 45), Cleary.
Substitutes: Hudd.
Images courtesy of GEvans Photography.
