West Brom striker Lee Hughes turned party-pooper as he scored an 88th-minute
equaliser against champions Nottingham Forest to take the gloss off their First
Division farewell.
Forest were set to end the season with another victory after Steve Stone had
given them a 17th-minute lead at The Hawthorns.
But the Baggies took some of the shine off their celebrations when referee
David Orr ruled that Jon-Olav Hjelde handled Brian Quailey's cross and awarded
them a penalty.
Up stepped local hero Hughes to ram home his 14th goal of the season.
West Brom began determined to spoil Forest's day in front of their biggest
crowd of the season of 23,012 and Sean Flynn headed over after just six
minutes.
Kevin Kilbane gave Thierry Bonalair a torrid time as the Republic of Ireland
winger made several early runs down the left flank and through the middle.
Forest boss Dave Bassett gave striker Marlon Harewood his League debut, but
the 18-year-old got off to a terrible start when he lifted Ian Rogers' cross
over the bar from inside the six-yard area.
Scot Gemmill then fired a snapshot narrowly wide before Forest took the lead.
Pierre van Hooijdonk slid the ball across to Steve Stone, who was unmarked on
the right-hand edge of the area, and he slotted the ball home for only his
second goal of the season.
That sparked fighting in the home stand where some Forest fans had managed to
get among the home supporters.
The brawling supporters spilled out onto the pitch and play was held up for
five minutes as order was restored.
The Baggies tried to battle their way back into the game and Hughes, who was
being watched by Northern Ireland assistant manager Joe Jordan, shot across
goal.
The match may have had little at stake, but that did not prevent it becoming
ill-tempered and Hughes and Flynn were booked towards the end of the first
half.
West Brom continued their search for an equaliser and Beasant produced a fine
stop to keep out Flynn's rasping volley from James Quinn's cross on 57 minutes.
Harewood was growing in confidence and he nearly scored when Paul Crichton
rushed out of his area and made a hash of a clearance, but his chip was just off
target.
Hughes went close with a header before he missed a sitter on 77 minutes when
Beasant blocked Kilbane's shot only for him to shoot wide from the rebound. But
then Hughes made no mistake from the penalty spot to claim his side a
well-deserved point.
Teams:
West Brom: Crichton, McDermott, Van Blerk, Flynn (Quailey 79),
Beesley (Murphy 79), Carbon, Quinn, Nicol, Sneekes, Hughes,
Kilbane.
Subs Not Used: Coldicott.
Booked: Van Blerk, Flynn, Hughes.
Goals: Hughes 88 pen.
Nottm Forest: Beasant, Bonalair, Rogers, Cooper, Chettle,
Johnson (Hjelde 79), Stone, Gemmill (Woan 67), Van Hooijdonk,
Harewood, Bart-Williams.
Subs Not Used: Moore.
Booked: Van Hooijdonk.
Goals: Stone 18.
Att: 23,013
Ref: D Orr (Iver).
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