Express & Star

Analysis: Late goal not the full story as West Brom suffer bigger heartbreak

Saturday should have been remembered for a thrilling and breathless away match that had it all.

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Skipper Jed Wallace, right, cannot hide his devastation for Dike (Getty/Adam Fradgley)

Instead, devastatingly, it will be recalled as the latest nightmare for an Albion striker without an ounce of fortune on his side.

When the luckless Daryl Dike stayed down on the Portman Road turf near the away fans stationed high over the far side it was quite obvious something was wrong. It wasn’t a bad challenge or serious incident. It was all very ominous, similar to Stoke last April.

Quickly he slumped on his backside, looking hopeless and crestfallen.

He was some distance from the press box, but you could make out the bowed head. Dike knew.

He would have recalled the feeling in his Achilles in the Potteries last spring. He confirmed as much to gutted boss Carlos Corberan at full-time, that was after being driven off the Ipswich pitch on a golf buggy acting as a makeshift stretcher-bearer.

The United States international, covering his face, was in tears. We’ve seen this script before.