Former Liverpool striker Andy Carroll has West Brom medical after Reading exit

West Brom are set to sign Andy Carroll on a short-term contract until the end of the season.

Championship promotion hopefuls Albion have moved for the former Newcastle frontman following his release by Reading.

Baggies boss Valerien Ismael wants more firepower after the huge blow of losing Daryl Dike on his debut to a hamstring injury.

Ismael made Dike his No.1 target this month after signing the striker, who he worked with at Barnsley previously, from MLS club Orlando City.

But the forward picked up a bad hamstring tear on his full debut and scan results on Monday have been ruled out until after the international break.

Ismael promised to reassess Albion's transfer business in the wake of the blow.

And he has now moved for ex-England frontman Carroll, 33, who has scored twice in eight appearances for the Royals this term.

The 6ft 4in forward, capped nine times, only joined Reading in November on a two-month deal and is available on a Bosman.

He could make his debut for West Brom at Millwall on Saturday after Albion's promotion bid was hit by just one win in six games.

Fans turned on Albion as they lost 2-0 at home to Preston in midweek when Ismael controversially excluded England keeper Sam Johnstone from his squad after a row.

Ismael assessed: "It's no excuse [Johnstone's omission] for us.

"We cannot afford to find excuses to drop into victim mood.

"We have no excuses for that performance, we are professional, we meant to put in a performance.

"It was a poor performance.

"Every time we've had a chance to close the gap on teams around us this season we've missed it, and this is another one.

"We didn't produce the right performance and we didn't manage to do all the things we wanted to carry out, but there can't be any excuses.

"It was a strange feeling and we didn't expect to see this, especially after the win against Peterborough on Saturday.

"The good thing about football in the Championship is that there's another game and another opportunity for us to bounce back.

"We have to show a reaction, embrace the fight and now we need to show another mentality."

Carroll's career peaked early on when his emergence at Newcastle earned him a British transfer record move to Liverpool for £35million in January 2011.

But he failed to back up his promise at Anfield before being offloaded to West Ham for less than half his original fee.

Not even a return to Newcastle in 2019 was able to spark the injury-prone forward back into top form and he was forced to drop into the second tier this season at Reading.