West Brom 1 Spurs 0 - Report and pictures

After an excrutiatingly tense 90 minutes, Jake Livermore scrambled an injury-time winner past Tottenham to keep the impossible dream alive, for a few hours at least.

Southampton can relegate the Baggies if they beat Everton in the late kick off, but regardless of what happens in that game, few will forget what they saw at The Hawthorns today.

In the final home game of the season, Albion conjured up their best performance here of the campaign, nullifying an off-colour Tottenham side before striking right at the end.

They were brilliant, organised, disciplined, and weathered the white tide for most of the game before scoring at the death from a set piece.

That was a scrambled goal. Craig Dawson leapt highest but somehow his towering header from four yards out was stopped on the line, but there, just like in the Liverpool game was Jake Livermore to sweep the ball home.

The outpouring of emotion when the ball went in will live long in the memory.

Chris Brunt kicked the ball into the Brummie Road End, Livermore had to receive treatment because he was jumped on by his team-mates. There was chaos in the crowd.

But Darren Moore didn't move a muscle. While everyone else lost their minds around him, he kept his, stayed kneeling on the ground, before getting up and telling his players to switch on.

At full-time, the players conducted the lap of appreciation and they judged the tone right. It was sheepish, it wasn't over the top, but there were plenty of fans who stayed and clapped them.

Before that though Moore made a speech. He reiterated his message of 'strength and unity' and reminded the fans - who broke out into a spontaneous rendition of 'There's only one Big Dave' - that there was still work to do.

Albion still need five results to go their way, starting with tonight's match, but parts one, two and three were completed today.

Thanks to Bournemouth beating Swansea on the south coast and Stoke losing the early kick-off, the Baggies still have a horse in this race.

Moore is now five games unbeaten. He's beaten Manchester United, Newcastle United, and Spurs. He's drawn with Liverpool. Regardless of how this turns out, he's performing miracles.

The caretaker boss named the same line-up for the fifth successive game, sticking with the team that had remained unbeaten for his first four, although he replaced Oliver Burke on the bench with former Spurs man Nacer Chadli.

Mauricio Pochettino handed a surprise start to Toby Alderweireld in defence in order to play a three-man back line with wing-backs.

Thanks to Crystal Palace's comeback at the Bet365 Stadium in the early kick-off, Albion's slim survival hopes remained alive at kick-off and Stoke became the first club to be officially relegated this season.

Some achievement from the Potters, considering Albion were seven points adrift when Moore took over.

But Albion still had to beat Tottenham, which was going to be no mean feat, and the visitors immediately started to gain control of possession while pushing the Baggies further back into their half.

Whilst Spurs were probing, a plane flying a banner that read 'Boing Boong Bye Bye #Wolvesaywe' flew over The Hawthorns.

It was greeted with loud chants from the home fans of 'It should have been six' - in reference to the 5-1 mauling Albion handed out to Wolves in the last meeting between the two rivals. And it turned out to be premature.

James McClean was beeing booed every time he touched the ball in the early stages, following his inflammatory comments about players leaving in the summer, but a timely intervention on the edge of the box 17 minutes in drew applause instead of jeers.

The Baggies were struggling to get out of their half, and their forages up pitch were rare.

But it wasn't until mid-way through the half that either keeper was tested, and even then Ben Foster comfortably tipped Victor Wanyama's curling effort over the bar.

Danny Rose was dared to shoot when he collected the resulting corner 30 yards out, and he did, blazing his effort voer the bar.

Harry Kane was always going to be the most dangerous goal threat though, and just before the half-hour mark he had two big chances in quick succession.

When Kieran Trippier slipped him through past Craig Dawson, you would have bet your house on the ball finding the back of the net, but Foster was out quickly to close down the space and Kane's lofted shot hit his head and bounced wide.

Moments later, Tottenham's top scorer headed wide from eight yards out under pressure from Ahmed Hegazi.

At the other end, Salomon Rondon strayed inches offside when Chris Brunt's delightful chip over the Spurs backline had put him through, before Matt Phillips put a free-kick into a dangerous area that was cleared.

Meanwhile, events on the south coast were being relayed back to the fans, who greeted a Bournemouth goal with "We've done it before and we'll do it again."

But in order to do that, the Baggies needed to cut out the balls coming off the right wing from Trippier, because Spurs were having far too much joy down that flank.

But after weathering the storm, it was the hosts who finished the half on top, and they should've taken the lead.

When Brunt's free-kick bounced all the way through to Jay Rodriguez at the back post he flashed the ball across the six yard box but there was nobody there and Spurs cleared their lines.

Soon after, Matt Phillips's pin-point corner found Hegazi's head but the Egyptian glanced his header wide from six yards out. It was a glorious chance that really needed to go in.

The Baggies started the second half in the same way they finished the first, and Phillips created a glorious chance for Rondon with a bursting run up the right flank.

After outpacing Rose, the winger found his striker in the box, seven yards out, but Rondon fluffed his lines and the ball hit his standing foot.

But Albion were limited to counter-attacks and breakaways, because Spurs were having most of the ball.

And while they may have been off-colour, they reminded the Baggies what they were capable of ten minutes into the half with a glorious sweeping one-touch move up the pitch that ended with Foster sprining out quickly to smother at Erik Lamela's feet.

Albion's No.1 was having a brilliant game, and on the hour mark he palmed Christian Eriksen's free-kick away from goal.

Just before that the Baggies went close with a Brunt free-kick that was just too far for Dawson to get enough of a boot on it, before Kane overhit a pass to Lamela when Spurs were briefly three on two.

Tempers were begining to flare on a hot day, and there was a spot of handbags between Danny Rose and Allan Nyom midway through the half.

Rose raised his hands to Nyom's face, and the full-back went down theatrically. Both men were booked but Nyom went looking for afters and had to be calmed down by both Brunt and referee Mike Jones.

The Baggies needed a goal, and so Moore turned to Daniel Sturridge, and sent him on for Rondon 15 minutes from time.

The Venezuelan had been kicked from pillar to post all game, and he received a huge standing ovation as he limped off.

But it was the visitor's England striker who nearly gave Albion the lead soon after. When Kane sliced a clearance from inside his own six yard box towards goal, Lloris had to react quickly to push it over the bar.

The nerves were jangling, and Moore was whipping up the crowd, who were happy to respond.

He brought Nacer Chadli on for his first minutes of 2018 with 12 minutes to go, hoping that one of Albion's absent stars from the past few months would be able to conjure up the moment of magic they needed.

But it was Spurs who were asking most of the questions late on, as the Baggies fought valiantly for their lives.

Grzegorz Krychowiak came on for McClean, who received a round of applause from the home fans following a battling performance.

The last minutes of the match were hectic. Rose wanted a penalty when he went down under Gibbs's challenge but Jones said no.

And then Phillips put in a fantastic corner that came quickly at Sturridge six yards out, but he couldn't get his feet in order.

It felt like that might be the chance, but then Albion won a corner in injury time and Dawson leapt what looked like 10ft into the air and powered a header downwards.

Somehow it didn't go in, but Livermore bundled it over the line and The Hawthorns erupted.

They're still alive.

KEY MOMENTS

90+3 GOAL ALBION - Jake Livermore sends The Hawthorns into raptures with a late winner.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Ben Foster - Kept Albion in it with some great saves.

POSITION IN THE TABLE

19th, with 31 points from 37 games.

TEAMS

Albion (4-4-1-1): Foster; Nyom, Dawson, Hegazi, Gibbs; Phillips, Brunt (c), Livermore, McClean (Krychowiak 87); Rodriguez (Chadli 79); Rondon (Sturridge 74).

Unused subs: Myhill, Evans, Yacob, Krychowiak, Robson-Kanu.

Spurs (3-4-2-1): Lloris (c); Sanchez, Alderweireld, Vertonghen (Llorente 85); Trippier, Wanyama, Eriksen, Rose; Lamela (Moura 78), Alli (Son 67); Kane.

Unused subs: Vorm, Davies, Dier, Sissoko.

Referee: Mike Jones (Cheshire)

Attendance: 23,685 (2,661 away)