Johnson swoops to reward Baggies' heart and graft

Andy Johnson's injury-time equaliser may prove to be the most important goal of West Bromwich Albion's season. He slid in to convert Darren Moore's header deep into stoppage time to cancel out Henrik Pedersen's first-half strike and the finish, deserved if only for the effort put into the game, has kept Albion's season and their survival hopes alive.

Many say that two things decide a relegation struggle: luck and hard work. Albion's graft and determination were certainly far superior to Bolton's in this encounter, and in the end the blood-and-guts effort made up for a lack of fortune in the previous 90 minutes. After all, West Brom had laid siege to the Bolton goal late on, and Johnson gave them what they deserved. The strike, more importantly, prevented the gap between safety and the drop-zone from growing to seven points.

But Gary Megson, the Albion manager, considered it two points lost rather than one gained. "I thought it was a scant reward for the way that they played after Bolton had scored," he said. "We let them settle way too easily after about 10 minutes and they were bossing it. Once they scored, we rolled our sleeves up for the second half.

"The second half was near enough one-way traffic, although we were thankful to Russell Hoult for a save from a one-on-one. I said to the players that every single one of them giving their all with a 'never say die' attitude was marvellous."

Pedersen's opening goal came after 18 minutes and will be something goalkeeper Hoult would rather forget. The England candidate failed to hold Youri Djorkaeff's drive after Jay-Jay Okocha's long run from defence, and the ball fell kindly for the Dane to slot home his fourth goal of the season.

Albion responded well and Jason Roberts missed several chances in the second-half. His most woeful was a poor volley from Daniele Dichio's cute cross which he hit, when unmarked, straight at Jussi Jaaskelainen. But a moment of madness involving Jaaskelainen was the major talking point. Dichio had robbed him of the ball outside the area before being bundled over by the goalkeeper, but Jason Koumas's hastily taken free-kick prevented referee David Elleray from taking action. The Finn then had defender Ivan Campo to thank as he cleared Ronnie Wallwork's resulting effort off the goal-line.

Megson conceded that Elleray made the right choice but still condemned Jaaskelainen's actions. "Technically, I suppose David Elleray has got it right," Megson said. "Jaaskelainen wasn't the last man. In my view it was a great foul." But with less than a minute remaining Albion got rewards for their efforts as Koumas's lobbed ball forward was nodded down by Darren Moore and netted by Johnson.

Sam Allardyce, the Bolton manager, was furious at his players' lapse in concentration. He said: "The performance means absolutely nothing to me because what went on for the other 91 minutes doesn't make any difference. Our players have the responsibility and the experience to see a game out and they didn't do that. That really bitterly disappoints me."

West Bromwich Albion 1
Johnson 90

Bolton Wanderers 1
Pedersen 18

Half-time: 0-1 Attendance: 26,933