Former Liverpool midfielder Joe Allen is in his second spell with boyhood club Swansea
Joe Allen came off the bench to score a stoppage-time equaliser for Swansea City against Championship promotion-chasers West Bromwich Albion.
The managerless Baggies, who had been linked with Swans head coach Luke Williams in the days leading up to this game, had the better of a goalless but open first half with chances at both ends.
Substitute Tom Fellows fired the visitors in front with a clinical low finish after the interval, and Swansea seemed unable to summon a response with a blunt second-half display.
But that changed in the second minute of injury time as Wales midfielder Allen headed in from Ronald's cross.
The point keeps West Brom sixth in the Championship table, while the Swans move up a place to 11th, six points adrift of the play-off spots before the start of Saturday's 15:00 kick-offs.
There was a certain irony to the fact Swansea were hosting West Brom after a week in which Swans head coach Williams had to field questions about speculation linking him to the Baggies.
The former Notts County boss was installed as favourite with bookmakers to replace Carlos Corberan and, having initially failed to quash the rumours in media interviews, Williams eventually confirmed he was staying at Swansea.
Swans chairman Andy Coleman described the episode as "unhelpful" in his match programme notes, but it did not seem to hinder the team judging by their fluent start to the game.
Both sides had early chances, with Swansea creating two of the better openings as Liam Cullen headed over and Josh Key had an effort blocked after some penalty-area pinball from a corner.
West Brom were particularly threatening when counter-attacking but often found their path to goal blocked by Swans centre-back Harry Darling, who made timely – and sometimes crunching – interventions to deny Josh Maja and Karlan Grant.
The Baggies were close to scoring a controversial opener on the break as the ball deflected on to defender Darnell Furlong's hand inside his own box but, despite appeals for a penalty from the home fans, nothing was given and a counter ended with Jayson Molumby firing wide.
West Brom started to take control as the first half wore on, with Swansea goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux making excellent saves from Grant and Mikey Johnston.
The visitors eventually got their reward midway through the second period as Molumby was allowed to carry the ball forward and pass to Fellows, who shifted on to his left foot and finished past Vigouroux at his near post.
The match had become disjointed at this stage and, lacking the purpose and tempo of their first-half performance, Swansea struggled to get themselves back level.
Instead, it was West Brom who were close to doubling their advantage as Fellows hit a half-volley over.
Some eyebrows may have been raised among the Swansea supporters when Williams replaced forward Cullen with midfielder Allen as the hosts searched for an equaliser.
But it proved to be an inspired decision as the 34-year-old glanced in from Ronald's cross to score his first goal since March 2024 and earn the Swans a valuable point.
Post-match reaction
Swansea head coach Luke Williams:
"I think we deserved a draw. I don't think there was a huge amount in the game either way. Both teams looked very tired but I think we were value for a point.
"Liam [Cullen] has played a lot of minutes and he was starting to look tired, the pitch is heavy, and he'd just started to lose his energy, and Joey Allen is a special player.
"Some players are a full-back or a winger or a midfielder, and some are just footballers. Joe Allen is just a footballer. He knows how to handle himself in all different scenarios. He can understand things at a very high level."
West Brom interim head coach Chris Brunt:
"There are good draws and bad draws, and that's probably a bad draw for us. Everyone is gutted in the changing room.
"There were a few tired bodies out there and unfortunately we just couldn't deal with that last ball into our box.
"On the whole I don't think we deserved that. We created a lot of opportunities, asked questions of them throughout the game but let ourselves down in the final third."
