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West Bromwich Albion will go into their Championship play-off semi-final second leg against Aston Villa looking to overturn a one-goal deficit without striker Dwight Gayle.
Albion’s top scorer was dismissed having been sent off in their 2-1 away defeat to local rivals Villa and will miss the return leg at The Hawthorns tomorrow night.
The Villans staged a second-half comeback with goals from substitute Conor Hourihane and Tammy Abraham, who converted from the penalty spot.
West Brom had taken the lead on 16 minutes after Gayle capitalised on an error from Glenn Whelan.
But the Newcastle United loanee was dismissed late in the game after picking up his second yellow card and will miss the home tie.
After the game Albion’s caretaker manager Jimmy Shan expressed his annoyance at the sending off.
He said: “Looking at both [incidents], he [Gayle] obviously got booked for allegedly time wasting for the throw-ins.
“To my understanding every time the ball went dead he had the intent and walked towards the ball. It’s a new one on me if every time the ball goes dead you have to jog or sprint to get a restart.
“I’ve got no problem at all with the referee discussing that with [him] and trying to hurry him up but not once did he stand still, every time he had an intent to go towards the ball to take the throw-in.
“The second yellow card which he gets the sending off for, he’s got every right to contest the ball.
“He’s a big player for West Brom and it’s obviously frustrating [to lose him].”
Despite going into the second leg a goal to the good, Villa manager Dean Smith was disappointed with his side’s showing on Saturday and is expecting more from them when the sides meet again.
He said: “I’m pleased that we won the game but not pleased with the performance. We can certainly perform a lot better than that.
“A few of the players will hold their hands up and say it wasn’t their best game.
“But the good thing about this squad of players is that they keep finding a way to win and there’s also better performances in their lockers as well.”
