West Brom's play-off hopes almost over after hapless 2-0 defeat at Coventry City

National World - LocalTV

Birmingham World reporter Charlie Haffenden reacts to Coventry City 2-0 West Bromwich Albion in the Championship.

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00:00West Bromwich Albion's play-off hopes are pretty much over now

00:04following today's disappointing 2-0 defeat away at Coventry City.

00:08Going into this game, West Brom were three points behind the Sky Blues.

00:12Now the gap is six, and to make matters worse, Bristol City, up to fifth place,

00:17were able to beat Sunderland by two goals to one at the Ashton Games.

00:22It's a completely devastating day, to be honest, for the baggies.

00:25Good Friday, certainly not good for Tony Mowbray's side.

00:29They were just hapless throughout the game.

00:31They've never looked like winning it, and it took just six minutes for Coventry City to take the lead.

00:36It was Jack Rodoni, who scored pretty clinically from about 10 to 15 yards out from goal,

00:42hitting first time from a Haji Wright low cross.

00:45West Brom, though, defensively appalling, made it so, so easy for Coventry to get that opening goal.

00:50Bit of a mix-up on the right-hand side of defence between Darnell Furlong and then Isley Price,

00:55who was dropping back from his midfield role.

00:57Neither really properly followed the run from Wright.

01:00He was able to deliver, drill the ball into the box, and then it was a great finish from the goal scorer.

01:06And then, throughout the rest of the first half, you'd expect a bit of a fight back from West Brom,

01:09who've definitely got players capable of getting back into the game.

01:12But there was nothing, really.

01:14They hardly made it into Coventry's half.

01:16The Sky Blues were able to dictate possession.

01:18Didn't really look like scoring another one, in fairness, before half-time.

01:21But West Brom, no response, really, whatsoever.

01:24Then, at the start of the second half, Coventry started even quicker than they did in the first.

01:29Took them just three minutes.

01:31Half the time, and they did in the first, went to double their lead.

01:34This time, it was Matt Grimes, who capitalised on a huge error from John Swift,

01:38who'd only just come onto the pitch at half-time.

01:40Stopped on by Tony Mowbray.

01:42His first involvement, pretty much.

01:43Giving the ball away in his own box.

01:45I don't even know why he was that far back, to be honest.

01:48You should probably expect the two centre-halves to be passing out from the back.

01:51But it was Swift, who dropped in between them.

01:53He didn't even know that Matt Grimes was behind him.

01:56Dispossessed, and then Grimes made no mistake.

01:58Passing the ball into the corner beyond Josh Griffiths.

02:01It then went from bad to worse for West Brom.

02:04Callum Stiles was sent off for a second bookable offence.

02:07Tugging the shirt of Milan Van Iwik,

02:10and getting that second yellow card from Craig Pawson.

02:13Pawson, I think, is the right decision.

02:15You can't be tugging someone's shirt when you've already been booked.

02:18And Stiles, given his marching orders.

02:20At that point, I think West Brom already, at 2-0 on down, were dead and buried.

02:23But even more so after the red card.

02:26Weirdly, they might have performed slightly better with 10 men.

02:29Going into a 4-4-1 formation, after it being a 4-5-1.

02:34Tony Mowbray trying to add a bit more fight into that midfield.

02:38His tactics went out the window when Stiles was sent off.

02:40But there was a little bit of a fight back.

02:42But that's really scraping the bow, to be honest.

02:45West Brom, they did have the ball in the net through Adam Armstrong off the bench,

02:48but it was offside.

02:50Kept getting flag offside.

02:51It was just unacceptable how many times they didn't hold the line in attack.

02:54And Coventry, they probably could have gone on to score a third or a fourth,

02:57but they were able to just conserve their energy and see out the win.

03:01Baggies now six points outside the playoff position for three games to go.

03:06It looks like it's all over.

03:07It's an incredibly disappointing end to the season.

03:11Excellent indeed.

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