Newcastle’s Karl Darlow has debut to forget as West Brom win at last

Karl Darlow’s debut disaster plunged Newcastle into further relegation trouble as West Brom triumphed at The Hawthorns. The goalkeeper allowed Darren Fletcher’s header to squeeze past him on his Premier League debut to hand Albion a 1-0 win. Darlow was only a late replacement for Rob Elliot after he was taken ill in the buildup to the game and dropped to the bench . 

Fabricio Coloccini cleared off the line from James Morrison while he and Paul Dummett hit the woodwork for Newcastle and Victor Anichebe struck the bar for West Brom.

Defeat left Newcastle in the bottom three and two points from safety while Albion’s first win in six games moved them six points above the drop zone.

Saido Berahino started on the bench for the eighth straight game with Anichebe given his first Premier League start since May. The West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Pulis insisted pre-match that Berahino was even lucky to be a substitute and hinted at internal problems.

The tone of Darlow’s match was set when he had to be rescued inside two minutes of his top flight debut by Coloccini when the skipper hacked Morrison’s shot off the line. The goalkeeper then turned Morrison’s drive wide before Albion survived a scare.

Moussa Sissoko had stolen the ball inside Newcastle’s half and his lung-bursting 60-yard run was only halted by a last-gasp challenge from Gareth McAuley as the midfielder prepared to pull the trigger.