West Bromwich Albion vs Charlton Athletic. Sky Bet Championship.
The HawthornsAttendance25,356.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash at The Hawthorns
Sunday 27 October 2019 17:49, UK
Josh Cullen's controversial stoppage-time penalty earned Charlton an ill-tempered point at 10-man leaders West Brom.
The midfielder rescued a 2-2 draw for the Addicks after Semi Ajayi collided with Naby Sarr in the box.
Hal Robson-Kanu looked to have won it late for the Baggies after Macauley Bonne scored his fifth goal in six games to cancel out Matt Phillips' early opener for Albion.
Referee Matthew Donohue courted controversy before the penalty after initially sending off West Brom's Grady Diangana in a case of mistaken identity - before correcting his mistake and dismissing Nathan Ferguson in the second half.
Albion did at least retain their two-point advantage at the top of the Sky Bet Championship, with Charlton 10th.
The Baggies looked to take immediate advantage of Leeds' lunchtime draw at Sheffield Wednesday and opened the scoring after 10 minutes.
Jake Livermore sent Matheus Pereira clear and his low cross was a gift for Phillips to fire in at the far post.
But sloppy play almost allowed Charlton an instant equaliser when Semi Ajayi presented the ball to Erhun Oztumer and Kyle Bartley produced a superb block to thwart Bonne.
Albion rode their luck and survived again after 27 minutes when Tom Lockyer diverted Conor Gallagher's low drive over from six yards and three minutes later Chris Solly volleyed wide
Baggies boss Slaven Bilic then had more reason to feel relieved five minutes before the break when Sam Johnstone kept the hosts ahead.
Sarr was clipped through by Oztumer but, despite having just Johnstone to beat, squared to Gallagher.
The midfielder's shot was stopped by Johnstone and the goalkeeper then produced a superb block to turn away Sarr's follow-up.
But the visitors could have gone into the break further behind when Darnell Furlong headed wide from close range.
Albion upped their game after the restart and Phillips fired over before Diangana wasted a glorious chance to make it 2-0 after 50 minutes.
Pereira found Phillips and his low cross begged Diangana to score but he shot straight at Dillon Phillips from just four yards.
It was a bad miss and Phillips kept Albion out again, racing out to block from Furlong, soon after.
They were crucial saves as, on the hour, Charlton levelled when Cullen's 25-yard drive looped high off Bartley and Bonne kept his cool to nod in from six yards.
It got worse for Albion four minutes later when Ferguson flew into Solly on the halfway line and referee Donohue sparked mass confusion.
The official took his time before issuing a red card to the bewildered Diangana.
Protesting Albion were furious and Donohue consulted with his assistant and fourth official, before finally dismissing Ferguson.
Cullen almost made Charlton's advantage count but fired wide before Albion retook the lead with nine minutes left.
Robson-Kanu cut in from the left and, with Lockyer standing off, curled into the bottom corner from 16 yards.
But Charlton hit back in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Ajayi came together with Sarr in the box and Cullen buried the penalty.
Slaven Bilic: "The whole story was there for us, it was a game which would have been more than three points, with 10 men and all that. Then someone says 'no, we're going to make a horror movie, not a good one'.
""It's nothing personal, it's hard for them [referees] and I went to speak to him after the game and I needed that. The problem is when they tell you you can't talk about the referee but it's a major part of our job.I can be permitted to say my opinion but, with the greatest respect to Charlton, it was the decision [the penalty] which took the win away from us."
Lee Bowyer: "It [VAR] should be [introduced] because the rewards to get out of this division are massive. With West Brom's second goal, it hits his [Robson-Kanu] arm and if that's on VAR it's no goal. I thought the referee did OK, he got the sending off right - which was the most important thing. It's the worst and hardest job in the world.
"The penalty looked soft, but we've had a lot of decisions go against us over the season. Both our goals had a bit of luck to them but maybe that's what we needed."
