Analysis: James Morrison vindicated as West Brom restore hope with battling Blades draw

Come the end of the season, the point his stunning late equaliser earned might well prove essential to his team’s Championship survival.

For now, at least until Tuesday night, it was enough to pull the Baggies out of the relegation zone.

No-one should be getting carried away. Albion remain winless in the league in 2026, their run without a victory now extended to 12 matches. They are still rooted in danger.

Yet if you wanted to understand the short-term significance of Saturday, you only needed to look at the Bramall Lane pitch in the seconds after the final whistle as the Baggies squad and their interim boss, James Morrison, stood as one to applaud an away end which responded with words of encouragement.

It was a far cry from a week previously, when only a handful of players had dared approach angry fans following a 2-1 defeat at Oxford which felt like a new low in a season of several.

This draw might not have pulled Albion away from trouble but it did, for the moment, repair some of the connection between team and supporters battered by weekend’s of serial disappointment. Back-to-back home matches against Southampton and Hull offer the chance to build on it further.

For Morrison, there will have been a sense of vindication. Defeat at Oxford had prompted the 39-year-old club hero, who at that point had not yet been confirmed as the man to lead the team until the end of the season, to deliver a blistering verbal volley in the direction of his players.

Though what Morrison said might have been true, such a public rebuke carried with it huge risk. Even on Saturday evening, the 39-year-old admitted to fearing his words might have gone a little too far. Much of his week had been spent wondering whether he would get the desired reaction.

Saturday, therefore, will no doubt have contained an element of relief, as Albion delivered a performance which, while a little short on flair and quality, contained plenty of the desire and grit too often lacking this term.

The two players Morrison had particularly singled out for criticism, Krystian Bielik and Max O’Leary, both responded in positive fashion.

Bielik battled on after reaggravating a dislocated shoulder inside the opening five minutes, at least until another heavy tumble caused the pain to become too much, forcing his exit at half-time.

O’Leary, meanwhile, was involved in one of the afternoon’s key turning points, thrusting out his right-hand to prevent Tyrese Campbell’s bouncing shot making it 2-0 and killing off Albion’s chances with 10 minutes remaining. 

Three minutes later, George Campbell pounced on a clearance, took advantage of some space provided by the home defence and slammed a powerful shot into the bottom corner from 25 yards out to cancel out his earlier own goal and earn the Baggies their point.

No player summed up Albion’s revived spirit better than the USA international.

Shifted by Morrison from right-back to the heart of defence, Campbell had been enjoying a fine game until he was left with little option but to play for Gustavo Hamer’s right-wing cross, placed perfectly down the corridor of uncertainty between backline and goalkeeper. The desperate dive only succeeded in sending the ball into his own net. Campbell beat the ground with frustration with his fist.

In previous weeks the Baggies might have crumbled but on Saturday they stood firm, riding their luck at times as the home side wasted chances to establish a decisive advantage but hanging on, so that Campbell’s strike into the correct net carried reward.

It was just the fifth goal of the 25-year-old’s senior career and his first from outside the box. If he continues to hit the ball that well, Morrison will be encouraging him to take a shot more often.

At the same time, the boss knows he cannot rely on thunderbolts from his centre-back in every match and the greatest concern around this Albion team remains their lack of quality in the final third.

Morrison went with a team selection which was both radical and retro, fielding two strikers - and big ones at that in Aune Heggebo and Daryl Dike - in the belief it would give the Blades a problem they weren’t expecting.

Dike set the tone early when he jumped with Japhet Tanganga and an accidental clash of heads left the home skipper requiring the kind of treatment usually reserved for boxers in the second half of title fights.

Yet for all the battling and brawn, there wasn’t much in the way of finesse or clear-cut chances for either forward.

Dike admittedly, created the best chance of the game before the opener when he sent Isaac Price racing through on goal. The latter, who has scored just once since October, sent his finish too close to keeper Adam Davies. Only once in their winless run have Albion scored more than once in a match.

On Saturday, when they needed a hero, Campbell stepped up to the mark. Others now must follow, over the final 10 matches, if Albion are to stay the right side of the safety line.