Albion Under-21s were held to a draw by 10-man Blackburn in their Premier League 2 meeting on Friday afternoon.
The hosts led through Igor Tyjon early on, but Eseosa Sule’s first-half double handed Richard Beale’s men the initiative at the break.
Sadly, Aodhan Doherty levelled matters early into the second 45, and despite Rhys Doherty receiving his marching orders for taking out Sule when in on goal, the points were shared at Rovers' Brockhall training ground.
Prior to firing in the first goal of the contest, young forward Tyjon had rattled the bar with a shot from the edge of the box. He wouldn’t be denied for long, though, and was ruthless in finishing past Ben Cisse for 1-0 following Ollie Bostock’s misjudged back-pass.
Still, they weren’t ahead for long as, for the second game running, Deago Nelson and Sule linked up to devastating effect. The full-back threaded a ball down the right, the Glaswegian striker latched onto it, and fired through the home keeper for 1-1.
Plenty of opportunities followed, and it was Beale’s boys who took theirs - Sule shooting across from the right again and finding a fortuitous deflection off of a Blackburn defender to help divert the ball beyond shot-stopper Jack Barrett for 2-1 three minutes before the interval.
A boost heading into the second half, but one which was short-lived when Northern Irishman Doherty got on the end of a sweeping move from deep to level the scores once again on 63 minutes
That didn’t halt the Baggies’ momentum, with Bostock forcing a save from Barrett and 16-year-old Matt Crowther hitting the post after rounding the Rovers keeper inside the box.
They received a numerical advantage with less than 15 minutes remaining when Sule, through on goal for his hat-trick, was swept out by English centre-back Doherty - prompting a straight red card and a nervy finish for the hosts.
Noah Dupont went closest to a winner - flashing a header wide from a cross - meaning honours ended even in Lancashire, with the points shared.
Albion: Cisse, Nelson, Dupont, Parker (c), Shaw (Deeming 63), Humphries, Crowther, Mfuamba, Bostock, Chimeziri (Higgins 70), Sule.
Subs not used: Wallis, Kirton, Walker.
Catch the PL2 highlights from Lancashire below.
