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Colchester
United v West Bromwich Albion
Layer Road, Colchester.
21st September 2004, 7.45pm. |
| 19th September 2004
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| Position |
6th (League 1) |
19th (Premiership) |
| Form |
W W L L W L |
D D D L L D |
| Last Match |
MK Dons (H) 0-1 |
Fulham
(H) 1-1 |
Last Meeting
3rd September 1996 |
West Bromwich Albion 1 (Groves)
Colchester United 3 (Reinelt 2, Dunne) |
Last Baggies win in this fixture
was 3-2 on 20th August 1996.
Andy Hunt, Ian Hamilton and Kevin Donovan all
scored at Layer Road as Albion won the first leg of this first round
League Cup tie. However, it was the U's who progressed as they won
3-1 in the return leg at the Hawthorns.
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Albion's first cup
tie of the season should be a little light relief for the Baggies,
but without a win so far this season, defeat at Layer Road will
see further pressure exerted on Gary Megson.
Colchester United is not a team that Albion have come up against
on many occasions in the past. Indeed, other than the disappointing
defeat in the League Cup eight years ago, there have only been two
other matches between the two clubs. Both of those came in January
1968 when Albion were held to a draw at Layer Road in the FA Cup
3rd Round. Astle scored the first two of his nine goals in the competition
that year in a 4-0 win at the Hawthorns in the replay as Albion
were off on the road to the eventual victory at Wembley.
Other than that, the only thing that springs to my mind about Colchester
United is Lua Lua - Albion's summer target started his English football
career at the Essex club catching the eye of Bobby Robson who paid
£2.25 million for the player in 2000.
The U's have had a decent start to the season picking up 15 points
from their 9 games this season and sitting in 6th place in League
1. They have lost their last two home games, however, 1-0 to MK
Dons on Saturday and 1-0 to Swindon two weeks earlier. But these
two results sandwiched an impressive 3-1 at Bournemouth. Pacey striker
Craig Fagan will be the main threat to the Baggies defence - the
former Blues striker has scored 5 goals this season having scored
10 in the last campaign from 37 starts.
This is likely to be the last chance for Baggies fans to visit Layer
Road as United are looking to build a new stadium in the near future
- with one win and one draw in their previous visits to the oldest
city in England, Albion will be looking to retain that unbeaten
record and progress to the next round.
I've not predicted a starting line-up correctly yet this season,
as Gary seems reluctant to play all his new players at once. Without
the pressure of the Premiership, maybe he will be tempted to let
the new boys show what they can do together. I'd like to see Sakiri
given an opportunity, along with starts for Gera and Contra, but
it depends on how Megson approaches the game. And even if Hoult
is recovered from his illness, I suspect that Kuszczak will be given
another start. My predicted line-up is:
Kuszczak; Contra, Purse, Gaardsoe, Albrechtsen; Gera, Koumas, Johnson,
Greening; Kanu, Earnshaw.
So it won't be that then!
This is a tricky tie for Albion - a win is the only acceptable outcome.
Defeat could see the end for Megson.
Jon Want, 19th September 2004.
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