I have been a West Brom fan my entire life. When I was born my Dad wrote in the local paper “A son for Bob and Jean, a brother for Stephen and Sarah and another supporter for The Albion”. I have a couple of seats in the Smethwick End this year and by and large I have loved every single second this season and think Roberto and his team have been doing a great job. This is, however, the first time this season I have struggled to find someone to occupy the second seat next to me...the reason...because we are playing Stoke City! We have a terrible record against them and I personally just can’t stand them. On the second time of asking my brother finally agreed to come. As he had witnessed the 3-1 demolition of The Blues with me, I took this as a good omen and picked him up from Finchley Central tube station and drove us up to the game.
The car journey was not one that was filled with much optimism from either of us. Topics of discussion included Jara’s return from suspension following the Blackpool debacle, Stoke’s unattractive brand of football, referee Stuart Michael and specifically whether he would slip down a further division this week after his recent performance in the Championship game between Reading and Norwich. We arrived at a very cold and foggy Hawthorns in plenty of time and witnessed a passing master class by the three Albion mascots, knocking the ball in a triangle with a Stoke mascot unable to get a touch; we hoped that this display was a taste of things to come.
Team Selection
Unfortunately it wasn’t just Steven Gerrard who had picked up an injury during the pointless international friendly games last week, as Chris Brunt was also out with a groin injury. This was not good news as he had been one of our most influential players this season. I hoped that Dozza could have come back into the starting line up, but instead Robbie went for Giles Barnes giving him his first Premier League start. Jara came back in following his suspension for the red mist at Blackpool to replace Reid at right back, and I was surprised to see Cech get the nod over the reliable Nicky Shorey – who I assumed must not be 100% fit, despite finding a seat on the bench. I am not a fan of only playing one up front at home so I found the formation a little disappointing. Stoke had won their last two fixtures and they have a very good Premier League team on paper, so, despite their poor away record, it was still a case of more pessimism over optimism as the game kicked off.
ALBION (4-2-3-1): Carson; Jara, Tamas, Ibanez, Cech; Scharner, Mulumbu, Barnes, Morrison, Thomas; Odemwingie. Subs: Myhill (gk), Dorrans, Cox, S Reid, Shorey, Fortuné, Tchoyi
STOKE (4-4-2): Begovic; Wilkinson, Huth, Shawcross, Collins; Pennant, Delap, Whitehead, Etherington; Fuller, Jones. Subs: Soresen (gk), Higginbotham, Whelan, Gudjohnson, Wilson, Walters, Tuncay.
REFEREE: Chris Foy (Merseyside)
First half
Albion definitely started the brighter of the two sides, winning an early corner through the endeavour of the very likeable Odemwingie who had been given the responsibility of taking the day’s set pieces for The Baggies. The first half didn’t have much flow to it because of several injury breaks, one of which led to Jermaine Pennant being replaced by Tuncay. Odemwingie looked bright; however, his shots lacked power and Begovic was never truly troubled in the first half. Albion had continued to knock the ball around well, Mulumbu was getting stuck in as usual in midfield, and as the half progressed we were using our wide men well and starting to ask questions of the Stoke defence. Barnes grew as the first half developed, which seemed to inspire Thomas. Stoke seemed happy to smack the ball long to Fuller and Jones, hoping it would stick; however, Tamas and Ibanez were winning their battles.
The best move of the first half involved Mulumbu threading the ball to Barnes in the box, but his neat cross was deflected just over Morrison by Shawcross who was in acres of space at the back post.
Half Time
Observations included:
1) How poor the football was that Stoke were playing
2) Oh good... Wolves are two down.
3) How depressing it must be to be a Stoke fan and have to make a lot of noise every time you got a throw in. Embarrassing.
4) How it was a shame that our final ball from JT and Barnsey was lacking a bit of quality as they were both getting joy over their prospective full backs
5) How it was sad to see Dozza – the best player in the Championship of last season – running up and down the touchline as opposed to being on the pitch
6) And finally, how the new Baggie Birds definitely looks more like an eagle than a throstle.
Second half
No changes in personnel at half time for either side. Battle recommenced and the game started with the same pattern as the first half with Albion trying to play football but lacking any real quality in the final third.
The turning point came 10 minutes into the half when, following some tidy work on Stoke’s left hand side – I think this was their first attempt to try and play football, Kenwyne Jones received the ball within acres of space inside the Albion box and Captain Carson sprinted out and dived at his feet in an attempt to clear the ball. Jones duly knocked it to the side and then dived over the keeper, flinging his body back as if he had been riddled by a semi automatic machine gun. My view of the incident from the Smethwick End at the time was that Carson was reckless and he shouldn’t have gone to ground. If you go to ground then you have to get the ball. He didn’t, so it was probably a penalty, although the reaction of Jones was difficult to take and a little more than suspect. It was one of those decisions that could have gone either way, but the referee made his decision and Etherington duly tucked away the penalty right in the bottom corner with Carson guessing the right way but unable to reach it. One-nil to Stoke.
They had taken an undeserved lead following a 50:50 decision; cue rapturous scenes from the vast away support. They reminded us that Stoke always beat West Brom, and we took the opportunity to remind them that they had never won anything. Albion have come from behind after conceding the first goal on a number of occasions this season; however, I had the feeling that this wasn’t going to be our day given who the opposition was.
Mozza was replaced by Cox, he had received a knock in the first half so this wasn’t a massive surprise; what was a surprise was not to see Dorrans enter the fray. A few minutes later the chants went up in the Smethwick for him to be introduced, but these were ignored and Barnes, who’d had little impact in the second half, was replaced by Tchoyi.
Albion huffed and puffed but despite some good pressure, the final ball either wasn’t good enough or just didn’t seem to drop to an Albion player. Tchoyi definitely made an impact when he came on and, after 66 minutes, it was hard to tell just how one of his low crosses had managed to evade all of his team mates shortly after his arrival. He then forced Begovic to make a good save at his near post after cutting inside. Albion were definitely still in with a shout, and the support was louder than ever. Cox was getting involved; he knocked the ball wide to Thomas and his cross was headed onto Tchoyi, forcing Begovic to make a fingertip save. Cox had a crack from about 30 yards out, which was deflected just wide.
The result, however, was sealed in an even more contentious manner. Stoke were awarded a second penalty with around 10 minutes to go when Simon Cox was adjudged to have fouled Dean Whitehead for what was a straight forward shoulder-to-shoulder challenge. If the first award was dodgy, this one was plain ridiculous. Whitehead should have won a spot on Soccer AM’s “Get on the Weights” section, not a penalty. Cue further delirium from the Stoke support, although this is not surprising... you should see how excited they get when they get awarded a throw in! Substitute Walters stepped up and tucked away the penalty with ease and the game was over. Dozza came on for Mulumbu who was later named man of the match (again), but everyone in the stadium knew that the result had been sealed. Chants of “Two nil to the referee” pretty much summed it up. But the pain wasn’t over for those still left in the ground; Walters scored his second and Stoke’s third following a neat interchange with Jones and, despite Carson’s effort against his original shot, he smashed the rebound into the roof of the net deep into stoppage time.
The journey home wasn’t a happy one. Topics of discussion included what potential impact of Tony Pulis’s much publicised criticism of referee decisions could have had on the result today. The only highlights of the journey home were hearing on the radio that West Ham were being dismantled at Anfield and that Wolves had lost at Bloomfield Road. However, all in all it was a bad result although the performance was definitely better than the one at Wigan. Albion now go into a tough fixture at Everton on the back of long winless run.
I hope that Dorrans will get back into the starting line up if Brunt is injured and perhaps Tchoyi will replace Barnes on the right following his promising cameo appearance.
Fulltime Result = Football 0 – Chris Foy 3.
Report over, I am off to ring my Dad and thank him for not being a Stoke fan. Bring on the Toffees.
Dan Jones.