I left the Hawthorns feeling bitterly disappointed at not having beaten a determined Fulham side, which is a measure of how far Albion have come in recent weeks. A few games ago, any sort of result would've been welcome, but as performances have improved, so have expectations.

The game was ultimately spoiled by the sending off, but it's difficult to argue against the referee's decision. The first half was fairly open although lacked many real goalscoring opportunities. Albion looked slightly more threatening although the final ball was normally a disappointment, whereas Fulham seemed content in breaking up the game and only rarely showed any sort of attacking intent.

And that was the main issue. Chris Coleman seemed to have sent his side out to bully the Albion players, or perhaps more crudely, to kick anything that moved. It was a real surprise that only two Fulham players had been booked before Boa Morte's second yellow - the visitors could have had few complaints had four or five of their number been in the referee's notebook before the break. As for Boa Morte himself, he had committed several fouls after being booked for the first time, and probably deserved his second yellow card.

Fulham had a similar approach when Albion visited the cottage in October, and we all know what happened in last year's meeting at the Hawthorns. Such an attitude throughout the team can only come from the manager's instructions, and given the quality of the players that Coleman has at his disposal, it seems puzzling and counterproductive to send them out to be so overtly physical.

Having said all that, the game was there to be won and Albion failed to ever really look like scoring. Other than the disallowed goal in the first half, none of Albion's few efforts on goal looked like beating Mark Crossley. Before the sending off, Albion passed the ball around OK, although both Kamara and Greening made too many poor decisions, and when they did get into good positions, their crosses were invariably dreadful. After the break, the team as a whole looked much more anxious and never made the extra man tell. Despite being a man down, Fulham pushed high up the field and gave the Albion players no time on the ball - consequently, the ball was invariably hit long and possession was lost more often than not. Albion's passing and movement was never really slick enough to exploit the extra man and the anxiety simply increased as the game went on. It was perhaps a sign that, while Albion have improved in recent weeks, they still don't have the confidence to knock it about under pressure, particularly without Kanu's trickery for the last twenty minutes. Moreover, not losing was far more important psychologically and the players' reluctance to commit too far forward is understandable in that light.

Another point and a clean sheet are positives that can be taken from the game, although there is now more pressure to get three points from the next home game against Manchester City. That looks a much tougher proposition following their demolition of Charlton at the valley on Sunday.

Marks

Tomasz Kuszczak - 6 - Never really tested; kicking still needs to be improved.
Neil Clement - 6 - One or two good moments; generally OK.
Curtis Davies - 7 - Another confident performance.
Paul Robinson - 7 - Back to the old Robbo again; solid game.
Ronnie Wallwork - 7 - Is now enjoying good form alongside Ina.
Steve Watson - 6 - Did OK, but Alby's pace may have suited the situation better.
Jonathan Greening - 5 - Too many mistakes; poor crossing.
Junichi Inamoto - 7 - MOM. Another good performance from Ina.
Nathan Ellington - 6 - Did OK but never had the service.
Diomansy Kamara - 4 - Poor. Ran up too many blind alleys and his delivery was consistently bad.
Nwankwo Kanu - 6 - Probably more affected by his injury, but didn't offer as much as usual.

Darren Carter - 5 - Changed little.
Geoff Horsfield - 6 - Was direct and did OK.
Robert Earnshaw - 5 - Too late to make much of an impact.

Bryan Robson - 6 - Probably the right starting line-up but failed to get the team in the right frame of mind for the second half and the substitutions didn't work..

Jon Want, 7th December 2005.