Ireland striker Shane Long scored two quality goals for West Brom last night but it still wasn't enough to give them a win at home to Aston Villa in the Premier League - it finished 2-2 at the Hawthorns. Long put Albion ahead in the third minute, delightfully controlling a long ball from Chris Brunt and slamming home. And after Boaz Myhill dived to keep out an Aleksandar Tonev strike, the Baggies found themselves 2-0 up in the 11th minute as Long capitalised on a poor attempted pass by Leandro Bacuna, collecting the ball, taking it forward and chipping Brad Guzan deftly.
Stephane Sessegnon wasted a glorious chance to extend the lead, and Libor Kozak's shot then grazed the West Brom crossbar, but as half-time approached the hosts - with Long very much to the fore and Villa looking vulnerable at the back - seemed well in control. Fit-again trio Andreas Weimann, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Fabian Delph had been restored to the Villa squad but only the bench, and 12 minutes into the second half their manager Paul Lambert threw them all on at once in an effort to give his side new impetus. Ten minutes later Karim El Ahmadi pulled a goal back for the visitors, volleying in from Weimann's header. And with 14 minutes of normal time remaining an Agbonlahor cross was only cleared by Goran Popov's head as far as Ashley Westwood, who equalised with a fine, swerving shot from distance. The 2-2 outcome was a repeat of the result in the fixture at the same ground last year, although on that occasion it was West Brom who fought back from 2-0 down at half-time.
After the game West Brom boss Steve Clarke said contract talks with Long aren't high on his agenda right now. The Tipperary man almost joined Hull on transfer deadline day but Clarke says they're not panicking about sorting out a new contract for him.
