It was a thoroughly enjoyable game at the Hawthorns this afternoon and a gutsy performance from the mighty Tigers. On the play overall, we probably didn't deserve to take all three points but if you defend as resolutely as we did and you are deadly in front of goal, you will win football matches. The opposition are a strong outfit. They started with Phillips and Bednar up front and replaced them in the second half with new loanee, Luke Moore and Ishmael Miller. That's incredible talent and depth. They set out to try and pass around us; the central midfield wasn't set up to win the ball but to use it. The front six was completed by Morrison and Gera, two tricky wingers with bags of pace. We were set up to make a game of football of it. Okocha dropped into midfield alongside Ash, Garcia came back onto the right and Dawson's return allowed Pedersen to move onto the left wing. We started with two strikers, Folan and Campbell, which would turn out to be a very good decision.
For 20 minutes, we were much the better team. Okocha was busy on the ball, the front two caused problems with their movement and Garcia, as he has done for months, dropped slightly inside to provide the easy out ball time and again. We defended well, not allowing their strikers to find any room behind our back line and closing any space out wide. We put good pressure on the ball and looked well up for the fight. The referee did his best to knock that out of us by booking ¾ of the team in the first five minutes. I'm pretty sure he saw a mascot in an amber shirt and booked him too. Unfortunately, we then went and scored, which upset u more than it did them. It was a beauty of a goal mind. Okocha picked up the ball in midfield and swiveled 4 or 5 times as Koren and Greening tried desperately to remember what a tackle is. JJ then slipped the ball through the middle of them and into Campbell's feet. Fraizer turned on the ball, Pedersen made a fantastic run into space without a defender in sight. The away crowd jumped up shouting "Pass it, Pass it!" and Campbell, as greedy as any decent striker should be, stuck two fingers up to us and the WBA defence by curling the ball into the top corner. Cue pandemonium.
As I said, we didn't quite recover from the goal, we never found the same rhythm and WBA woke up. They were set-up to pass the ball, they were never going to win it but we made it easy for them by giving it away constantly all over the pitch. For most of the next 50 minutes, we barely put 3 or 4 passes together. Campbell and Folan struggled to find any understanding, Garcia and Pedersen were clumsy, Okocha disappeared and Wayne Brown passed worse than Justin Whittle on a bad day. WBA didn't really ever batter us because as bad as we were on the ball, we were fantastic off it. They had chances in the first half though. Gera slid a decent shot wide of goal and then `scored' from a free-kick shortly after our goal but was adjudged to be offside, harshly, in my opinion. The same player forced a decent save from Myhill and Koren wasted the rebound. They broke through when Phillips pulled out to the left, found some space between Daws and Pedersen and delivered an indefensible cross in between our two centre backs, from which Bednar headed powerfully home. For the last few minutes of the half, they seemed to find acres of space wide, it was a tad reminiscent of the opening game of last season, but we worked hard to cut out or deal with any crosses.
Having equalised so close to half time and no doubt received a rollicking from their gaffer, I thought West Brom would come out all guns blazing after half time but it never really happened. They continued to dominate possession, mainly because we were so careless, but they didn't create a stack of chances. Myhill didn't make any serious saves in the second half, just pounced on a few weak efforts. They couldn't find the space out wide and we formed two brick walls across the pitch. They passed neatly in front of us, but rarely around us. The danger generally came when they worked decent shooting positions but again, we worked incredibly hard to shut everything down. The real danger came on the break, when our attacks broke down, they moved the ball forward quickly and Gera caused all sorts of stress with his running from those deep positions. Andy Dawson found the best way to deal with him, a rugby tackle. He was duly yellow carded for the most fantastic challenge of the season so far.
We were struggling to create much. One of the chief reasons was the lack of cohesion between Folan and Campbell. 3 or 4 times, moves broke down because one failed to find the other with simple passes. That sort of thing will come, the more the play together. Individually, they were very good. Both worked hard to shut down the WBA centre backs. Folan doesn't always look like he's busting a gut because he has a laid back running style but he covered as much ground as anyone and was never disheartened when things didn't come off. He's definitely not 100% though. Every strong challenge left him limping on his left foot. Campbell hares about a bit more visibly and unsettles defenders. His touch outside the box is often heavy, sometimes clumsy, but inside the box, the ball sticks to his feet. He was unlucky not to score a second goal, as he and Folan combined to harass Kiely into a huge blunder, but Leon Barnett cleared Campbell's acrobatic effort off the line. We did eventually score a second, a classic sucker punch, Pedersen releasing Folan wide, Caleb raced down the wing, cut inside across the 18 yard line and then whipped a shot into the far corner.
We survived two scares in the last 12 or so minutes. The first when Gera blasted over the open goal after the ball squirmed across our box and the second when Turner, booked previously for a crude challenge, looked to have caught Morrison in the corner. The ref marched over and we all stood head in hands. We breathed a collective sigh of relief when he booked Morrison for diving, rather than sending the big man off. As you'd expect, we spent most of the rest of the game defending but we did so brilliantly. WBA, unable to play around us, tried to hit long balls into Miller instead. That played into our hands and Turner and Brown won everything. We held on for a fantastic three points.
Our full backs were rarely an attacking force but defending so well. Ricketts was a tower of strength, facing Morrison and the rampaging Robinson and later Luke Moore, who pulled wide to try and alienate Ricketts. On the opposite side, Dawson dealt well with Gera, cutting out much of the threat early on, nicking the ball high up the pitch. The only time he was caught out was when he was trying to support an attack and his team-mates gave the ball away. Turner is our player of the season. He's consistently excellent. He left a ball in the first half that he thought was drifting to Myhill but hadn't realized there was a man behind him. Myhill dug him out of trouble. The fact that it stands out so much because he just doesn't make that sort of error anymore shows how great he has been. Brown, distribution aside, led from the back and dealt with most things that came his way.
In the middle of the pitch, Ash did the job of two players. Okocha had some great moments on the ball, but they were few and far between. Off the ball, he covered plenty of ground but he's never going to win the ball. Ash covered every blade of grass, blocked, tackled, harried and passed as well as anyone. He was excellent. Garcia and Pedersen worked hard up and down and defended well but didn't really cause a threat. France and Marney replaced Garcia and Okocha and both had a positive effect on the game.
We're right back in the play-off race. Although in truth, it's probably only idiots like me, who panic about every dropped point, who thought we were out of it. Bristol is a difficult place to go but if we can go there and maintain our momentum, perhaps even preserve the unbeaten run (6 games) then we'll be nicely placed with two home games on the spin. That's all for another day though. Today was an incredible day. This is a brave team, one to truly be proud of, and they gave us another exhilarating 90 minutes. Phil Brown picked an attacking line-up, the right line-up and deserved reward for his bravery.
Ratings: Myhill 7, Ricketts 8, Dawson 8, Turner 7, Brown 7, Garcia 6 (France), Pedersen 6, Ashbee 8, Okocha 6 (Marney), Campbell 8 (Walton), Folan 7.