Kranjcar ensures strugglers share the spoils

Portsmouth 2 West Bromwich Albion

Relegation scraps were not meant to be like this. While Portsmouth went into yesterday's match desperate to take another step towards Premier League survival and West Bromwich Albion were looking like condemned men, the two teams conjured up a match full of enterprising football and goalmouth incidents.

Ultimately it was a result that did neither any favours. Albion are at the stage where they need more than draws, while this was a missed opportunity for Portsmouth to build on their improved form of the last two months. Since Paul Hart took caretaker charge in February they have lost only to Chelsea, but they are still dangerously close to the relegation zone, even though this result lifted them two places in the table.

Albion, in contrast, had taken just three points from their previous nine matches, but Tony Mowbray has remained faithful to his footballing principles and for once there was an end product to show for their admirable passing play.

Hart has worked hard to improve Portsmouth's defending but they can still move forward with panache. While Albion generally coped with the threat of Peter Crouch they rarely got to grips with the breaking runs from midfield of Jermaine Pennant and Niko Kranjcar. Pennant was a constant threat on the right wing, while Kranjcar's quick feet and slick passing always looked likely to open up the away team's defence.

After 23 minutes Pennant's quick thinking from a corner gave Kranjcar the chance to crack a shot against the far post, while another flowing move featuring the same combination ended with the Croatian scorning an excellent chance with a miscued volley. However, Pennant was not to be denied. In the 33rd minute the winger's trickery wide on the right freed Younes Kaboul, who curled a fine shot past Scott Carson from 15 yards.

Albion had shown plenty of attacking enterprise in the first half and two minutes after the break they scored their first away goal since January. As Mowbray's men piled forward into the penalty area, the ball bounced off James like a pinball before landing at the feet of Jonathan Greening, who shot home from eight yards. Fourteen minutes later Albion went in front as Graham Dorrans deflected Brunt's fiercely struck free kick from 25 yards into the corner of the net.

The lead, however, lasted only four minutes as Kranjcar bent a delightful free kick beyond the reach of Carson. The midfielder then volleyed over the bar from close range as Portsmouth dominated the final half hour, though Albion still had chances to sneak a late winner.

Hart felt Portsmouth had been below their best and conceded that a draw was a fair result, while Mowbray is still refusing to concede defeat in Albion's relegation fight. "I would have liked to have stayed in front for a bit longer," he said. "That would have been an interesting test for Portsmouth."