Lowly West Brom claimed a surprise point at Manchester City in the Premier League after late heroics from goalkeeper Sam Johnstone at the Etihad Stadium.
The former Manchester United stopper made several terrific saves to ensure the resilient and determined Baggies were rewarded for a disciplined defensive effort on Tuesday night.
Both Ilkay Gundogan - who also struck a stoppage-time free-kick into the side netting - and Raheem Sterling could have won the game for dominant City in the dying minutes, but each saw close-range headers turned away by the boot of Johnstone, who also reacted quickly to repel a curling Kevin De Bruyne free-kick.
Gabriel Jesus also headed onto the roof of the net as the frustrated and inconsistent hosts - who had 26 shots in total - tried to avoid dropping more points, while Sterling was earlier denied by another solid stop at the front post from Johnstone. De Bruyne also toed an effort wide and saw other hopeful drives blocked by committed defenders in red and yellow.
Ultimately, and despite the introduction of Sergio Aguero, there was just no way through for City, who had broken West Brom’s dogged resistance on the half-hour mark when Joao Cancelo slid a low pass into the box for Sterling, who provided a cut back for Gundogan to thrash home.
West Brom had initially spurned the best chance of the game inside 10 minutes, when Chelsea loanee Conor Gallagher’s low pass out wide got a fortunate deflection off the foot of Cancelo, but Ederson was equal to Karlan Grant’s effort.
There was more than a touch of good fortune about the Baggies’ eventual equaliser, which came just before the interval.
West Brom sustained their attacking momentum after a free-kick was cleared and Semi Ajayi - imperious in defence - saw a shot cannon off City’s record signing Ruben Dias and past Ederson.
That was the first goal that City - who were gunning for a club-record seventh successive clean sheet on Tuesday night - had conceded for more than 10 hours of play and ultimately sealed only West Brom’s second point on the road this season.
While not enough to see his side escape the relegation zone, such an unexpected result will undoubtedly provide a huge boost for Slaven Bilic ahead of the busy festive period.
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As for City, they return to the top six for now but continue to look some way off the title pace, with five wins from their opening 12 matches in 2020/21.
