Danny Wright

Thu 27 February 2020 15:18, UK

We’re delighted to welcome former West Brom striker Kevin Phillips as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns…

Kevin Phillips has shown sympathy for Charlie Austin after the striker was caught storming off the pitch at The Hawthorns on Tuesday night after West Brom beat Preston.

Austin, 30, came off the bench with just eight minutes remaining of Albion’s 2-0 victory over Alex Neil’s side and almost managed to get on the scoresheet when he forced a good save from Declan Rudd.

Although it was a routine victory for the Baggies, Austin clearly seemed frustrated after the match as footage emerged online of him making a beeline for the tunnel and avoiding a high-five with a member of Slaven Bilic’s coaching staff.

https://twitter.com/danielmbrett/status/1232425063242194944?s=21

West Brom had been in control for most of the match and Preston were reduced to 10 men in the 64th minute when Darnell Fisher was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Callum Robinson.

Even though victory was pretty much a certainty at that point, it still took Bilic almost 20 minutes before handing Austin an appearance off the bench.

Ex-West Brom striker Phillips can understand why Austin wants to play but has admitted it wouldn’t make sense for Bilic to change up his attack at the moment with them all in such good form.

“I can speak from experience. I’ve been there and seen it and done it so I can totally understand from the manager’s point of view, the coaching staff’s and the player’s point of view,” Phillips told West Brom News.

“First and foremost, from the manager’s point of view, Charlie’s been sat on the bench being patient and when he has been called upon, his attitude has been exemplary.

“He’s come on, done his job, scored important goals and made an impact which has changed games. More so the Birmingham game, when I was there, he came on and changed the game.

“He’ll feel that he should be starting games and unfortunately, from the manager’s point of view, it looks like he’s got a settled front-three at the moment. While you’re winning football matches, it’s hard to change.

“I don’t know what happened on Tuesday night but maybe someone’s gone on before Charlie and he probably felt ‘the game’s over at 2-0, get me on for the last 20 minutes and maybe I can get another goal and really kill the game off’.

“It’s unfortunate but that’s just pure frustration because he feels he should be playing and he wants to be playing but he might just need to be a bit more patient.”

We cannot be sure about why Austin was so visibly frustrated after the win against Preston.

He almost scored a third for the Baggies but he may feel as though he should have got longer on the pitch with the game pretty much won once Fisher was sent off.

Austin has had to play second fiddle to Hal Robson-Kanu for most of the season but that is totally justified with the Welshman in the form of his career and scoring three goals in his last two outings.

The ex-Southampton striker will have to remain patient for now but there is bound to be an opportunity for him on the horizon.

In other West Brom news, there has been an update on Grady Diangana’s recovery from his injury setback.