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West
Bromwich Albion v Blackburn Rovers
The Hawthorns,
West Bromwich. 30th September 2002, 8.00pm. |
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A night of firsts for
the season at the Hawthorns. The first time Albion had failed to
score at home, the first game this season in which we would have
expected points and didn't get them and the first time I left the
ground despondent. Blackburn were good, but I thought the Baggies
were poor. Albion never looked like scoring and the defending that
lead to the goals was woeful.
Megson surprised us again by selecting Bob Taylor to play alongside
Roberts. Otherwise, it was the side that started against Liverpool.
The Rovers line up offered some early encouragement with the front
pair of Yorke and Coal only making the bench after injury, although
that didn't last long.
The early exchanges were fairly even with chances for Duff and Neill
for the visitors and a series of corners for the Baggies. The best
chance for the home side falling for Moore whose header flew inches
over from a Balis free kick. But that was as good as it got for
the Albion faithful.
After an injury to Flitcroft saw Andy Cole joining the fray, Blackburn
took control. The visitors exerted a lot of pressure with Duff and
Thompson seeing shots deflected and Tugay unlucky to see a snapshot
from 40 yards fly just wide. Cole was causing many of the problems
but it was to the home defence's credit that Hoult's only real action
of the first was to clutch the former Man Utd star's shot from 20
yards just two minutes before the break.
Megson continued his recent fad for making changes at half time
although I must admit to being surprised to see Koumas and Sigurdsson
replaced by Marshall and Wallwork. Souness had slightly stronger
options and brought European Cup winner Dwight Yorke on for the
disappointing Ostenstad.
Albion started the second half brightly with Taylor fashioning a
chance for himself on the edge of the box only to see Henning Berg
nick the ball at the crucial moment. The home side pressure continued
with Taylor, Johnson and Roberts all having shooting opportunities
without really testing the American 'keeper.
But as Blackburn started to come back into the game, Wallwork, who
has never really looked comfortable at the back, put a weak clearance
directly at Duff who immediately ran to the byline and put in a
superb cross that somehow evaded everyone.
The home side's luck was not to last, though, and on 72 minutes,
Balis and Wallwork both managed to let Duff get away on the edge
of the box and as the Irish winger headed for the box, Wallwork
had a tug. Duff stayed on his feet until he was inside the area
and then went down. Debatable it may have been, but I was quite
close and thought penalty straight away. Hoult could not repeat
Murphy's heroics from Anfield as YORKE coolly converted.
Roberts was getting increasingly frustrated as what he saw as a
lack of protection from the referee, and lashed out a couple of
minutes later. The booking was inevitable.
WIth Moore pushed up front and Albion pushing for the equaliser,
gaps appeared at the back. Just four minutes after the penalty,
it was 2-0 to Rovers. Cole's throughball dissected a flat defence
and DUFF rounded the onrushing Hoult to finish with ease.
Albion did have a couple of late chances when Dobie was denied by
Friedel and a goal line scramble was somehow cleared, but a comeback
never looked on the cards.
This game looked like ending nil-nil until the penalty. Albion had
run out of ideas, and Rovers appeared to have settled for a point
being unable to break down an apparently solid Albion defence. Wallwork
showed a lack of experience and this, coupled with his poor heading
ability, gives me serious doubts as to his future as a defender.
I though Siggy was very unlucky to be pulled off, unless this was
due to injury. Balis made one mistake at the back, but going forward
his unwillingness or inability to take on defenders makes his attacking
options very limited at this level. Blackburn will do well this
season and this result is not the end of the world, but the pressure
is definitely on for the next two home games against our fellow
promotees.
RESULT - WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0 BLACKBURN
ROVERS 2
Marks
Hoult - 7 - Usual commanding performance.
Balis - 5 - Frustrating going forward, exposed at the back once
more.
Clement - 6 - One of the better defenders.
Gilchrist - 7 - A steady performance.
Moore - 7 - MOM. Unlucky with header, solid at the back.
Gregan - 6 - Poor first half, gave the ball away too much. Better
in the second.
Sigurdsson - 6 - Distribution lacking as ever, but unlucky to be
subbed.
Johnson - 6 - Worked hard, but occasional lapses in concentration.
Koumas - 6 - Part of an overall below par team in the first half,
unlucky to be subbed.
Taylor - 6 - Showed some intelligent touches, but his lack of pace
let him down.
Roberts - 7 - Lively as ever, got very frustrated leading to the
booking.
Wallwork - 4 - Don't know why he came on, looked completely outclassed.
Marshall - 6 - Added a little bite, but distribution was poor.
Dobie - 6 - Had no more joy than Taylor.
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West
Bromwich Albion (3-5-2):
Hoult; Sigurdsson (Wallwork 45), Moore, Gilchrist; Balis, Koumas
(Marshall 45), Gregan, Johnson, Clement; Roberts, Taylor (Dobie
64). Subs not used: Murphy (GK), J Chambers.
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Blackburn
Rovers (4-4-1-1):
Friedel; M Taylor, Berg, Johansson, Neill; Thompson, Flitcroft (Cole
19), Tugay, Duff; Dunn (Gillespe 60); Ostenstad (Yorke 45). Subs
not used: Kelly (GK), Todd. |
Scoring: Yorke (72,
pen) 0-1, Duff (76) 0-2.
Bookings: West Bromwich Albion - Roberts (ungentlemanly conduct
74). Blackburn Rovers - Johanssen (foul 24).
Referee: M Halsey (Welwyn Garden City)
Attendance: 25,710 |
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