West Bromwich Albion must have thought they were heading to the Championship summit away at Oxford United, with a slim 1-0 win in their favour as the clock ticked nervously down.
The hosts had other ideas right at the death, though, as a scramble in the box managed to evade a number of Baggies shirts before Tottenham Hotspur loanee Dane Scarlett fired home instinctively to secure a 1-1 draw for the U’s.
Whilst Des Buckingham’s home side celebrated coming away from the game with a share of the spoils in dramatic style, Carlos Corberan would have been enraged at his own team’s last-gasp collapse, as many of his usual star performers had an off-day at the Kassam Stadium.
West Brom underperformers away at Oxford
There were a number of culprits on the Baggies’ end that put in lacklustre displays, especially towards the end of the game as the away side presumed the three points were safely in the bag.
But Scarlett pounced at the perfect opportunity to seal a 1-1 draw to capitalise on lax West Brom defending, and players such as Tom Fellows for Corberan’s men were also way off the pace compared to his usual blistering best in attack.
Away from helping himself to an impressive five assists from ten Championship clashes so far this campaign, the homegrown Baggies product never got going at the Kassam, compared to his partner down the left flank in Karlan Grant who scored West Brom’s only goal of the lunchtime kickoff.
Fellows would only amass 25 touches of the ball from his uneventful 70-minute showing, with the 21-year-old also failing to register a single shot or a successful dribble as the game ended up simply passing him by.
Corberan will want Fellows to get back to what he’s capable of in important Championship fixtures to come, with West Brom now winless in league action since the end of September, which will have made that late Scarlett goal an even more bitter pill to swallow.
The goal could well have been avoided if West Brom didn’t allow for a needless throw-in to happen, after one poor defensive performer in Semi Ajayi kicked it out of play for Scarlett to then become a last minute hero for the U’s.
Ajayi's numbers vs Oxford
The ex-Rotherham United defender, despite coming in at a towering 6 foot 4 frame, would also lose out when pinball ensued after the throw-in, failing to get tight to the header that then fell to the young Spurs starlet’s path to fire home.
It was a less than convincing display from Ajayi across the full 90 minutes too, seen in Express and Star journalist Lewis Cox dishing out the 30-year-old with a sub-par 5/10 rating post-match, labelling his performance as ‘mixed’ away from his ‘costly’ decision to gift the home side a chance from a throw-in.
Stat
Ajayi
Minutes played
90
Goals scored
0
Assists
0
Touches
60
Accurate passes
45/53 (83%)
Clearances
3
Blocked shots
0
Interceptions
0
Tackles
2
Total duels won
4/7
Stats by Sofascore
Failing to register a single interception or block a shot in the 1-1 draw, on top of missing out on three duels being successfully won, Ajayi will just hope he can bounce back when he next has an opportunity to showcase his quality.
Corberan will be thinking about potentially changing things up in the heart of defence moving forward, to try and tweak areas of his side to kickstart a positive run of form again, and must instantly ditch the centre-back from the starting XI after this shocking display.
Still, he won’t go overboard for the mid-week trip to Ewood Park, as West Brom continue to hunt for an elusive win in league action after experiencing a slight sticky patch.
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