West Brom v Southampton LIVE: Championship play-off result and reaction from semi-final first leg
West Brom 0-0 Southampton: Goalless draw leaves play-off semi-final finely poised after first leg at The Hawthorns
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Your support makes all the difference.West Brom and Southampton played out a goalless draw in the first leg of their Championship play-offs semi-final tie.
Grady Diangana had the game’s best chance with a header from Tom Fellow’s tempting cross but the Baggies forward saw his effort saved smartly by Alex McCarthy.
Up the other end, Flynn Downes saw his effort saved by Alex Palmer after a well-worked move with Joe Aribo down the left side.
A cagey game afforded both sides few efforts on goal but both keepers remained alert to make smart saves after the break, McCarthy denying Diangana’s effort before Ross Stewart saw his deflected effort saved well by Palmer just moments later.
West Brom will now travel to the south coast to take on Southampton in the second leg at St Mary’s Stadium on Friday.
Relive all the action from West Brom vs Southampton below.
Moving swiftly on
No rest for the wicked as we’re straight into the second play-off semi-final first leg between West Brom and Southampton.
Here’s a look at the line-ups if you missed them earlier.
West Brom XI: Palmer, Furlong, Bartley, Kipre, Townsend, Mowatt, Yokuslu, Fellows, Diangana, Johnston, Thomas-Asante.
Southampton XI: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens, Manning, Downes, Smallbone, Aribo, A. Armstrong, Mara.
FULL-TIME! Norwich 0-0 Leeds
Not a great one for the attacking stats, that.
Leeds United attempted 6 shots in this game, their lowest total in a single match in the English Football League - Championship this season.
Meanwhile, it was the first time Norwich have failed to score in a home game since 9 December.
Norwich captain Kenny McLean speaking to Sky Sports
“A tough game and afternoon but all still to play for in the second leg. It’s obviously a big game for both teams and we all want the same prize but we’ve got to look forward to the second leg now.
“We’re still in the game and played decent enough [today] but we can do better with the ball. We’ll look at this game back and see what we can improve on.”
On the task awaiting them at Elland Road: “We’ll not get away from that. We know how good Leeds can be at home and they’ll fancy their chances but we’re a very good team as well.”
FULL-TIME! Norwich 0-0 Leeds
Well...that one won’t stick long in the memory. The full-time whistle goes, drawing to a close a bore draw in the first leg of this play-off semi-final.
No real chances of note to speak of in that second half, but you’d expect that Leeds will be the happier of the two sides ahead of the second leg back at Elland Road.
Norwich 0-0 Leeds
90+4 mins: A late attacking flurry for Leeds as they look to nick a goal late but the play breaks down when Nunez wins a free-kick on the edge of his own box.
Norwich 0-0 Leeds
90 mins: James robbs Nunez well inside the Norwich box but his clipped cross to the back post is met with a wild effort on target from Firpo.
Into the first of four minutes of added time we head.
Norwich 0-0 Leeds
88 mins: Another late change - for Leeds this time - as James replaces Summerville up front.
Norwich 0-0 Leeds
83 mins: Sargent looks concerned as he limps off the pitch to be replaced by Van Hooijdonk. Norwich fans will hope that’s not serious for their star striker.
Norwich 0-0 Leeds
82 mins: Fresh off the bench, Anthony tries his effort from long range but it’s straight into the hands of Gunn.
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