Tony Brown blasts Isaac Price for what he did as West Brom threw away win vs Birmingham
Isaac Price was in the firing line after West Brom failed to make the most of their advantage when leading Birmingham City.
The Baggies drew 1-1 with the local rivals after taking a first-half lead via Alex Mowatt‘s deflected long-range strike at The Hawthorns on Wednesday night.
Ryan Mason is facing West Brom sack questions, but a strong showing before the interval looked like it might lead to a morale-boosting win.
However, after an extended break prior to kick off for the second half thanks to a technological issue for the officials they failed to build on it despite opportunities.
West Brom should have made it two in the 66th minute but Price‘s poor decision-making squandered an excellent breakaway opportunity to potentially make the result safe. The 22-year-old was again at fault just three minutes later as he and Aune Heggebo surged forward with one defender back.
Price chose not to play the early ball across for his teammate to slot home and instead slowed to shoot past the far post, to the disappointment of Tony Brown, and Marvin Ducksch netted the equaliser 12 minutes from time.
Isaac Price wastes West Brom counter-attack
Price had just failed to find Mikey Johnston in the box when the duo and Karlan Grant had burst forward on the counter-attack, when he was again found in acres of space down the left in the 69th minute.
Heggebo was briefly unmarked running through the middle but was ignored and Price’s subsequent effort was off target.
Reacting live on BBC WM via the BBC Sport live-blog Brown criticised the Northern Irishman, saying: “It’s the wrong decision for me from Isaac Price.
“Heggebo is free and if the ball is rolled over to him, he’s got a great chance at side-footing it in.
“That was a great chance.“
Ryan Mason frustration at five points dropped
Since West Brom were beaten by Frank Lampard’s Coventry after leading 2-0 at the weekend this result will be all the more frustrating for Mason and his staff.
At home against a close rival the players delivered the sort of response to the disappointment that the manager would have been looking for in the first half.
The opportunities were there to make the result safe after the break, especially with Heggebo on a relative high after netting a brace against Coventry.
The Norwegian would surely have been a better bet than Price, who hasn’t scored in over a month, when the pair broke forward and at 2-0 with around 20 minutes to go it would have been difficult to see the visitors fight back.
Instead the point leaves West Brom down in 17th and ruing another missed opportunity before they face Swansea at the weekend.
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