Robert Earnshaw said the “interesting thing” about “quality” West Brom ace John Swift netting against Ipswich Town was the unusual circumstances about how he entered the fray.
The attacking midfielder replaced Daryl Dike just 10 minutes after the striker went off injured having joined the action as a substitute himself, in a heart-breaking moment for a player who has only just returned from a lengthy injury lay-off.
It would be Swift who put West Brom into a 2-1 lead after 76 minutes, a goal that looked like being a winner until Omari Hutchinson bagged a last-gasp leveller to earn a 2-2 draw for the Tractor Boys at Portman Road.
Speaking about Swift’s contribution on Sky Sports Main Event (10 February, 2:59pm), former Baggies striker Earnshaw said: “The interesting thing there for West Brom is, the guy who comes on Swift he goes and scores the equaliser, almost the winning goal, and a little moment where the game would have changed but they didn’t see it through.
“When you’ve got a sub like Swift to come on, I mean he’s a quality player, it gives them a chance.”
Bittersweet goal for ‘quality’ West Brom ace John Swift
It must have been a pretty mixed feeling for Swift, who has had his own injury trouble at times this season.
Obviously such an influential player will always want to be on the pitch but not at the expense of a teammate, especially one who has been through the ringer in recent times and was so distraught at coming off hurt.
Ultimately, it was Swift’s contribution that earned the Baggies a point and the big disappointment is that it did not earn all three points against a playoff rival.
It was great to see Swift score but the injury to Dike and the fact West Brom failed to hold out for all three points meant it was a bittersweet goal in the end.
As Earnshaw said, though, Swift is a quality player and hopefully he can bag a few more goals in the coming months that will be able to be celebrated a little more.
In other West Brom news, here are our player ratings from the Ipswich game.
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