West Brom 1 Hull City 1 - match report and pictures

Keith Downing's first afternoon in caretaker charge looked set to end with a fifth successive defeat for Albion after Jake Livermore's goal just before half-time gave Hull the lead.

But substitute Vydra struck with four minutes to go to stop the rot, although the Baggies still dropped two important points, thanks largely to a dismal first-half performance.

They improved after the interval and deserved their share of the spoils.

A dreadful opening 25 minutes saw just a single half-chance for each side.

Hull's came first as James Chester headed well wide from a corner by Tom Huddlestone.

And then a pacy Albion break ended with Shane Long bursting into the box but just losing out to Hull keeper Allan McGregor, who claimed bravely.

The visitors took the head on 28 minutes when they broke from a Baggies corner after referee Jonathan Moss waved away appeals for a penalty for a shove by Huddlestone on James Morrison.

A long clearance was collected by Danny Graham, who squared for Livermore to score as Chris Brunt and Billy Jones were unable to cope in a two-on-two situation.

And moments later it could have been 2-0 when Hull, boosted in confidence by their goal, compiled a smart passing move and David Meyler's shot hit Gareth McAuley and dropped narrowly wide.

Albion started the second half more positively and half-time substitute Saido Berahino almost made an immediate impact with an on-target snap-shot that was palmed away awkwardly for a corner by McGregor.

Then Youssouf Mulumbu's drive from 20 yards took a deflection off Curtis Davies and flew behind.

Moments later Long cut in from the right flank after a Baggies counter-attack but sent a left-footed shot spinning high and wide.

And then Gareth McAuley headed straight at McGregor from a corner by Chris Brunt.

Albion were applying pressure but Ben Foster, who was recalled after injury for his first game in almost four months, had to make a vital double save to keep the Baggies in the game.

He made a fine near-post shot to keep out a Huddlestone drive that deflected off Jonas Olsson, then recovered to block Ahmed Elmohamady's follow-up by the opposite upright.

Berahino had a decent chance from a Brunt corner but the ball skimmed off his head and drifted well wide.

Albion continued to press but their efforts appeared to be to no avail until four minutes from full-time, when a rare moment of quality brought the equaliser.

Youssouf Mulumbu combined with Long to set up Zoltan Gera, who produced a wonderful through-ball for fellow substitute Matej Vydra and he slid home a cool finish.