Kevin Phillips hit top form when his team needed it the most as Sunderland
struck back from the dead to grab a priceless point at The Hawthorns.
Phillips' two second-half strikes allowed his side to hold onto their
precarious perch above Albion in the Premiership basement.
The former England man had scored just one league goal all season and his dip
in form had raised questions about his future at the Stadium of Light.
But his goals sealed a remarkable turnaround for Howard Wilkinson's troops
after they had been outplayed by gritty Albion in the first half.
Phillips threw his side their unlikely lifeline when he poked his side's
opener past Russell Hoult early in the second half.
Then he capped his comeback with a brilliant 65th-minute equaliser which
suggested he could soon be back to his goal-getting best.
He cut in from the left and beat both Larus Sigurdsson and Darren Moore before
cutting a tight shot past Russell Hoult and into the the bottom left-hand corner
of the net.
The drama was not quite over as Phillips was inches from sealing an
astonishing hat-trick four minutes later.
Substitute David Bellion crossed from point-blank range and but the ball just
evaded Phillips' stretching right leg.
Sunderland's heroic victory over Liverpool had seemed like a distant memory
during a first half which Albion dominated.
Gary Megson had set his side a target of eight more wins this season for
survival and must have been ticking this one off after the first half hour.
Now he faces a headache in how to raise his team ahead of a festive programme
which brings both Arsenal and Manchester United to town.
Jason Koumas looked set to be Albion's saviour in a game which Hoult had
labelled one of the most important in their history.
The £2.5million man from Tranmere teed up the 26th-minute opener for Daniele
Dichio then blasting home a magnificent 32nd-minute free-kick.
Albion had shown their attacking intentions from the start and produced a
first half-hour as good as anything they have produced all season.
Jason Roberts almost harried Phil Babb into a seventh minute mistake when he
headed past his own goalkeeper Jurgen Macho and out for a corner.
But it was the visitors who almost stole the lead in the eighth minute when
Tore Andre Flo beat Roberts on the right before firing a low shot which
deflected off Moore and clattered the base of Hoult's left-hand post.
Then Gavin McCann teed up a powerful left-foot effort which Hoult brilliantly
turned around his post.
Roberts was inches from connecting with a Koumas free-kick at point-blank
range as Albion launched into a spell of dominance which ought have have sealed
three priceless points.
Roberts came close from Dichio's headed through ball then fired a 25-yard
effort high over Macho's bar.
Andy Johnson's crashing 30-yard volley was parried out for corner by Macho
just before Koumas' pinpoint corner from the right led to Dichio's opening
goal.
It was the second goal of the season for a striker still on the transfer list
after struggling to impress Megson.
When Koumas banged home his brilliant opener which left Macho rooted to his
goalline the home side should have had the points in the bag.
Kevin Kilbane lofted a terrible shot high over Hoult's unguarded net as the
visitors ended the first period with a whimper.
But Howard Wilkinson's half-time introduction of Bellion had the desired
effect of injecting some vigour into his beleaguered front line.
It was still an Albion mistake which handed the visitors their lifeline, when
Sean Gregan failed to deal with Kilbane's hopeful through-ball and Phillips
nipped in to poke the ball past Hoult.
Phillips grabbed his brilliant second and ought to have sealed an unlikely
treble moments later when Bellion stole in unmarked at the far post to knock
Kilbane's free-kick across goal and almost find the on-fire front man.
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