Albion 1 Newcastle 1

Albion with a decent knowledge of Albion appreciates where they are now.

Top half of the Premier League, two defeats in 11, a 2-2 draw at Anfield. Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

But their step-by-step, sustainable progress has been built on reasonable aspiration. Not settling for what they have.

It was thoroughly reasonable for Albion and their fans to have aspired to three points in this game.

Robert Sanchez suggested he took one for his team in an extraordinary finale to a fairly ordinary match.

He probably saved his side their remaining point by, as VAR confirmed, bringing down Callum Wilson.

But it should not have come to that.

As Graham Potter said afterwards, you cannot expect to dominate a Premier League game for 90 minutes.

That was confirmed to such powers as Manchester City (who, in fairness, sometimes DO dominate for 90 minutes) and Liverpool when they played Albion recently.

It cost Liverpool dear but not City.

It is all relative, of course, but there are no bad sides in the top fight, just some less good teams.

The focus for Albion will be why did they not make more of the hour or so when they looked the best side here.

Did they switch off when, like thousands in the stands, they might have expected Newcastle to sling another free-kick hopefully into the box?

Such was the control, Albion fans were giving it the “olé, olé” treatment as their side passed the ball in the first half.

Bizarre at only 1-0 with half an hour gone but understandable given the way Newcastle were chasing shadows.

In the end they were having to sing their ten-man side, with Lewis Dunk in goal, home for a point – and then roaring them forward hoping to snatch all three.

It was a frantic finale but all felt rather underwhelming and, like the Arsenal game, a draw which should have been a win going on what we saw, not pre-match league standings or reputations.

Albion’s struggles against teams in the bottom three in recent years are well documented.

They get a chance to start putting that right next time out at Aston Villa, who yesterday sacked boss Dean Smith.

They could be up against another caretaker boss a week on Saturday.

That was, we were assured, the case here. Prospective new Toon manager Eddie Howe watched from the West Stand but interim Graeme Jones told the media he had been very much the man in charge for this point.

He set up Newcastle up in a deep-lying shape which was hard to break down but Albion did enough to have been more than 1-0 up.

Tariq Lamptey was a threat playing high up on the right and an incursion by Marc Cucurella led to the corner which brought the goal.

The ball dropped to Leandro Trossard, who was tripped and also grabbed by Ciaran Clark.

Trossard thumped home the spot kick after video ref Craig Pawson, then man in the middle David Coote had reviewed the incident.

Lamptey has been used in advanced areas since his return from injury with Joel Veltman in behind him.

He was so far forward his well-intended touch to a superb Veltman cross took the ball away from Trossard right in front of goal.

When Lamptey stood up a ball to the far post from the byline, it seemed Solly March might head it home.

But it all ended up rather awkwardly when March sent the ball gently wide with his back.

It is easy to say struggling teams know how to combat Albion by putting players back and defending in a congested low block.

Of course they try to make life difficult. That is to ignore the fact Albion had, if not a wealth of chances, enough to score the second goal.

Just as they did in this fixture en route to a 3-0 win last season when Danny Welbeck scored their key second goal just after Newcastle had hit the post. But 2-0 did not arrive this time.

Trossard’s shot was saved, Cucurella headed across goal and Adam Lallana sidefooted tamely wide after a super move from Sanchez to Cucurella to Trossard.

Newcastle had enough to draw level on 65 minutes.

From that free-kick played short, Matt Ritchie crossed, Clark headed down and Isaac Hayden swept the ball home with a well-controlled right-foot finish.

Potter was unhappy with how Albion lost their way after that. It took the shock of seeing Sanchez sent off and Dunk in yellow to rouse again what had been a vibrant home team and crowd earlier on.

Jonjo Shelvey’s astute pass sent Wilson away from Shane Duffy on a counter and, once Sanchez had decided to come, a clip on the striker was the best he could do.

Newcastle fans were unhappy their side did not test Dunk when he took the gloves.

Back in the promotion season, Shelvey beat David Stockdale with a fabulous free-kick from 25 yards so why not try his luck against Dunk from 30?

Albion fans were unhappy their side lost their way.

For now, Newcastle's still have most reason to be discontent - and by a long way.

JASON STEELE SET TO REPLACE SUSPENDED ROBERT SANCHEZ AT ASTON VILLA

But Albion also aspire to more than this.

It still feels like they are SO close to being SO good.

They will look to more ruthless at Villa.

Albion: Sanchez; Veltman, Duffy, Dunk, Cucurella; Bissouma, Lallana; Lamptey (Webster 75), Mwepu (Mac Allister 46), March (Maupay 64); Trossard. Subs not used: Steele, Gross, Moder, Locadia, Richards, Sarmiento.

Goal: Trossard pen.

Yellow card: Lallana (74) foul, Bissouma (84) foul, Maupay (85) dangerous play.

Red card: Sanchez (90+2) foul.

Newcastle: Darlow; Murphy, Clark, Krafth (Gayle 90+4), Lascelles, Ritchie; Shelvey, Hayden, Almiron (Joelinton 74), Saint-Maximin; Wilson. Subs not used: Dubravka, Schar, Lewis, Manquillo, Fraser, Willock, S Longstaff.

Goal: Hayden 65.

Yellow card: Lascelles (12) foul, Murphy (60) foul, Shelvey (69) foul, Wilson (73) foul.