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West
Bromwich Albion v Burnley
The Hawthorns,
West Bromwich. 16th August 2003, 5.35pm. |
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The scoreline certainly
flattered the Baggies, but it was three well-deserved points which
got Albion's league campaign up and running. And as the fans cried
out towards the end of the game, Hughesie is back! His first goal
for almost a year was a stunner to rival Sakiri's wonder-strike
in the first half. It gave him the confidence to add his second
just a minute later, and has hopefully put him on the road to another
20-goal season.
A freak injury kept Gregan out of the side, with James Chambers
coming in to replace him. The only other change saw Dobie replace
Dichio alongside Rob Hulse up front. With Gregan out, Russell Hoult
took the captain's armband for the first time. The "Beast", Brian
Jensen, returned to the Hawthorns after being released in the summer
and received a warm reception from the home fans.
Albion went at Burnley from the first whistle but too little effect,
other than leaving a few holes at the back that Burnley tried to
exploit. The game soon descended into a scrappy affair, however,
and the first Albion effort on target was a poor free kick from
Koumas that flew over the bar.
On 28 minutes, however, disaster struck. Gaardsoe, looking rather
uncertain in contrast to his Tuesday night performance, gave away
a soft free kick. The Albion defence switch off and BLAKE hit a
shot from 35 yards that confused Hoult and found the back of the
net.
It served to wake the home side up somewhat and the Burnley goal
was soon under fire. First to shoot was Bernt Haas, whose shot from
eighteen yards was inches wide and fooled many into thinking it
was in as the side netting bulged. On 31 minutes, Albion broke again
and, some 35 yards out with two or three defenders in front of him,
SAKIRI thundered a shot into the top corner to bring the Baggies
level with his first goal for the club.
Burnley were almost back in front seconds later after a goalmouth
scramble saw one shot cleared off the line and Alan Moore denied
by the post. Hoult had to save from another Moore effort before
half time as Albion struggled to get control of the game, despite
some excellent work from O'Connor. Their only other effort was a
Sakiri corner that missed everyone and just failed to creep in the
far post and repeat his feat against England.
Albion started the second half well but it wasn't long before Megson
realised the error of his ways and brought Lee Hughes on to replace
Dobie. It also appeared that Chambers moved more into midfield to
create a 4-4-2 formation, although Haas and Clement were still bombing
forward. As against Brentford, the arrival of the Ginger Ninja changed
the game.
With Hughes creating space, Koumas started to get into the game.
He skipped around a Burnley defender and put Hulse in behind, but
the former Crewe striker tried to add to his goal tally and fired
over the top rather than squaring to the unmarked Hughes. On 59
minutes, Albion had the lead as HULSE nodded a Koumas corner in
off the post, but the expected Albion onslaught did not materialise.
Koumas was struggling to get into the game as the Burnley midfield
kept close tags on him. They got too close on one occasion resulting
in the Welshman requiring treatment which ultimately led to his
substitution on 84 minutes.
In the meantime, Burnley were still very much in the game and were
unlucky not to get a penalty when Little went down in the box. Albion,
too, were threatening with Hulse striking the post after latching
on to a Hughes flick, and the Ninja himself firing over from 15
yards.
Both sides went close with headers - Graham Branch headed over from
a corner while Hughes, looking extremely useful up front, set up
Bernt Haas only for the ex-Black Cat to head over.
Albion finally secured the points on 87 minutes with a sublime strike.
HUGHES picked the ball up 30 yards from goal, flicked it past a
defender before striking a dipping volley with the outside of his
right foot over the stranded Jensen into the top corner. Hughesie
was back. And two minutes later, he proved it. Put through by Hulse,
HUGHES coolly slotted past his former team mate for his second goal.
It was a very satisfying result and Hughes getting off the mark
again was the icing on the cake. O'Connor was superb, battling tirelessly
and distributing the ball intelligently and accurately. I'm sure
that Hughes has earned his starting place now, and it could be the
start of a wonderful partnership with Hulse. Jason who?
RESULT - WEST BROMWICH ALBION 4 BURNLEY
1
Marks
Hoult - 6 - Poor for the goal, but had little else to do.
Gaardsoe - 6 - Looked uncomfortable in the first half but improved
in the second.
Chambers - 7 - Had a decent game, did nothing wrong and did well
when moved into midfield in the second half.
Volmer - 7 - Another steady performance from the Dutchman.
Haas - 7 - Another good game from Haas - looking very comfortable
as a wing back.
Koumas - 6 - Strangely quiet performance from JK. Anonymous in the
first half, but started to get into the game in the second until
he took a knock.
O'Connor - 9 - MOM. Awesome performance.
Sakiri - 7 - Excellent strike for the goal, some lovely touches
in midfield - surprised to see him subbed.
Clement - 7 - Looking more like the Clement of old, but not quite
there yet.
Hulse - 7 - Good goal, doesn't have the aerial presence of Dichio,
but offers so much more as an all round striker
Dobie - 5 - Pretty anonymous performance from Dobes.
Hughes - 8 - Top, top performance - he's off and running and let's
hope he's back to his best.
Johnson - 6 - Probably added a bit more bite that the midfield needed,
but of limited influence.
Gilchrist - 6 - Didn't have time to do too much.
The Manager - 8 - Again took the wrong option to start up front,
but Chambers was a good choice at the back. For once made the substitution
at the right time, and maybe taking Sakiri off wasn't a bad decision.
|
West
Bromwich Albion (3-5-2):
Hoult; Gaardsoe, J Chambers, Volmer; Haas, Koumas (Gilchrist 84),
O'Connor, Sakiri (Johnson 67), Clement; Hulse, Dobie (Hughes 52).
Subs not used: Murphy (GK), Dichio.
|
Burnley
(4-4-2):
Jensen; Roche (West 79), May, G Branch, Camara; Chadwick, T Grant,
Weller, A Moore (Chaplow 62); Little, Blake. Subs not used: O'Neill,
Scott, Gnohere. |
Scoring: Blake (28)
0-1, Sakiri (31) 1-1, Hulse (59) 2-1, Hughes (87) 3-1, Hughes (89)
4-1.
Bookings: West Bromwich Albion - Koumas (foul 21), Hughes (dissent
88). Burnley - Camara (foul 29), Branch (foul 34), May (dissent
62).
Referee: M Clattenburg (Northumberland)
Attendance: 22,489 |
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