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West
Bromwich Albion v Bradford City
The Hawthorns,
West Bromwich. 24th April 2004, 3.00pm. |
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Four matches to go
and the season's major objective is already achieved. Not what we've
been used to at the Hawthorns of late, but it made for a real party
atmosphere in the April sunshine.
I was one of several thousand Albion fans that had opted to get
to the stadium early to watch the end of Sunderland's game at Wigan.
When the final whistle went confirming the 0-0 result, Albion's
return to the Premiership was confirmed and I celebrated along with
my fellow fans, and I'm sure it was no mistake that the players
were also out on the pitch at that moment. Their joy was plain for
all to see and attention turned to the game against Bradford and
the pursuit of the Championship.
Darren Moore had failed to recover from his hamstring injury which
meant that Clement took his place in the back three with Koumas
returning to the starting line-up in midfield. Back at the Hawthorns,
Megson also saw fit to return Hughes to the front line in place
of Dobie.
The game itself was slightly surreal. With the fans already celebrating
promotion, there was little tension in the stands and it must have
been difficult for the players to get themselves going. But they
did, and they played the ball around well in the first half.
In fact, it looked as though one of those rare commodities, an Albion
goal at the Smethwick End, had finally arrived on 13 minutes when
Johnson found the net, but the linesman's flag out paid to the addition
to the celebrations.
AJ should have had the ball in the net a short time later when a
Clement knock-down from JK's corner fell at his feet, but as he
tried to force the ball over the line, Tom Penford managed to get
himself in the way.
Bryan Robson, who had received an excellent reception from the Albion
fans, saw Lewis Emanuel have his side's first effort on goal which
was well saved by Hoult.
Hughes, who was giving the Bantams' defence a torrid time, fired
just wide when AJ put him through before another Koumas corner led
to another scramble in the Bradford goalmouth with both Gaardsoe
and Hughes unable to force the ball home.
It was starting to look like men against boys as the first half
drew to a close as Albion started to carve the visitors apart. Robinson
teed up Horsfield but his shot went wide when it looked easier to
score before another excellent move led to a Clement cutback finding
Hughes, but he too failed to find the target.
Horsfield failed to capitalise on a good chance early in the second
half before Cadamarteri set up Windass for a rare Bradford chance,
but the veteran could only fire wide.
Johnson headed over from a Koumas corner before Megson decided to
change things and brought on Lloyd Dyer for Neil Clement.
As per usual, Albion took the lead after the youngster's introduction
but, for once, he took no part in the goal. Koumas picked up the
ball near the centre circle and beat two defenders before spotting
Paston off his line and producing an exquisite chip. As the ball
came back off the crossbar, HORSFIELD was on hand to head the ball
home.
Five minutes later, Gaardsoe played a great throughball that split
the Bradford defence once again and set HUGHES through on goal and
he made no mistake by firing forcefully past Paston.
The Ninja went close again minutes later as did Horsfield before
he was replace by Dobie just after the hour.
Hughes hit a post when he was put through again as the Albion fans
turned up the volume in the latter stages. One of the best achievements
of the day was the Mexican wave - four guys in front of me in the
East Stand had been trying all day to get a wave going without success,
but when they eventually did get it going, it was a wave to be proud
of!!
A few minutes after the final whistle, the team returned for a lap
of honour along with the rest of the squad, and took the plaudits
of a rapturous crowd.
The only disappointment was that Norwich won at Watford, but it
couldn't take the shine of a magnificent day that saw Albion return
to the promised land.
Boing Boing!!
RESULT - WEST BROMWICH ALBION 2 BRADFORD
CITY 0
Marks
Hoult - 7 - Had little to do but made a good save when called upon.
Gaardsoe - 8 - Back to his best in terms of distribution, defensively
solid.
Gregan - 8 - Couldn't fault him once again.
Clement - 7 - Did well both in defence and when he moved into midfield.
J Chambers - 7 - Defensively untroubled and got forward well.
Koumas - 8 - Excellent performance, great chip for the first goal.
Johnson - 8 - Seemed to be everywhere, great performance.
Kinsella - 7 - Good game, kept the ball moving well.
Robinson - 7 - Some good moments, never troubled at the back.
Horsfield - 7 - Sharp for the goal, worked hard.
Hughes - 9 - MOM. Fantastic display, played on the shoulders of
the defenders all game and caused all sorts of the problems.
Dyer - 7 - Lively as ever.
Dobie - 6 - Little impact.
Facey - 6 - Ditto.
The Manager - 8 - Credit due for getting the team motivated in surreal
circumstances. Dyer's introduction got the crowd excited again,
and got the team going.
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West
Bromwich Albion (3-5-2):
Hoult; Gaardsoe, Gregan, Clement (Dyer 54); J Chambers, Johnson,
Kinsella (Facey 80), Koumas, Robinson; Hughes, Horsfield (Dobie
62). Subs not used: Murphy (GK), Volmer.
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Bradford
City (4-3-3):
Paston; Gavin, Atherton (Bower 68), Wetherall, Heckingbottom; Summerbee,
Penford (Keaney 75), Wolleaston; Cadamarteri, Windass (Sansay 68).
Subs not used: Combe (GK), Forrest.
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Scoring: Horsfield
(55) 1-0, Hughes (60) 2-0.
Bookings: None.
Referee: L Cable (Woking).
Attendance: 26,143. |
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