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West
Bromwich Albion v West Ham United
The Hawthorns,
West Bromwich. 6th December 2003, 3.00pm. |
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After some light relief
for a home game against the reigning League Champions, it was back
to a frustrating league fixture and another hard-fought draw. A
point was a relief in the end after a game devoid of goalmouth incident
was brought to life with a moment of quality from Brian Deane, but
the overall feeling was one of dissatisfaction as the run without
a league win at home was extended to four matches. Having said that,
we remain a point clear at the top of the table, nine games unbeaten
and if we win our game in hand at Bradford on Tuesday evening, a
four point lead will be very satisfying.
Clement retained his place in the starting line-up as Megson named
an unchanged first eleven with Robinson on the bench in place of
Adam Chambers.
Albion were marginally the better side in the first half as West
Ham, disappointingly, seemed content to allow Albion to have possession
and rarely broke forward.
Both Koumas and Hulse had early shots on goal but David James dealt
with both comfortably. And after Brian Deane had tested Hoult with
a header from twelve yards, the game descended into a midfield battle
with neither team gaining much of an advantage, and the spectators
remained untroubled by goalmouth incident.
Albion were restricted to long range shots with Haas firing wide
and Dichio and O'Connor both finding David James's safe hands, whereas
West Ham had just two efforts on goal before half time; the first
was from Deane when he fired into the side netting after dispossessing
Gregan and the second a long range effort from Carrick that flew
wide.
But both defences looked relatively untroubled with Gaardsoe once
again in commanding form in the heart of the Baggies defence.
Dichio, who was having an effective game holding up the ball well,
once again succumbed to injury before half time and was replaced
by Dobie, who came close to repeating his scoring feat of Wednesday
evening testing James with a long range effort.
Albion looked more determined after the break with Clement charging
down the left wing before firing just over the bar from 30 yards.
The Albion team appeared to make a tactical change as Gregan moved
into midfield which, with Haas and Clement still playing wing back
roles, seemed to leave only two at the back.
But it was West Ham who seemed to take a slight advantage as they
won a few corners in quick succession, resulting in a good chance
for Harewood. Fortunately for the Baggies, the former Forest man
completely missed his kick and the ball was cleared.
After Gaardsoe was booked for fouling Harewood (a "sensible" booking
in my opinion as he was about to run clean through on goal), Connolly
had the best chance of the game. A long throw from Quinn fell to
the former Wimbledon striker just three yards out, but he could
only fire over the bar.
Then on 68 minutes, O'Connor tried to beat one more man than necessary
and lost possession. Harewood ran forward with purpose and was fouled
on the edge of the box. The referee waved play-on as the ball fell
to DEANE who curled an exquisite left foot shot around Hoult into
the far corner to give the visitors the lead.
Megson responded by replacing Koumas, who had been strangely ineffective,
with Sakiri. But minutes later, Harewood almost doubled the lead
with a shot that flew past Hoult's right hand post.
Albion huffed and puffed but it seemed that the points were destined
to return to east London as they could find no way through a resolute
Hammers defence.
But they were gifted an equaliser on 17 minutes when a cross from
Dobie was met by the head of Hayden MULLINS whose attempt to clear
found the top corner of his own net.
An Albion late surge was half-expected but never materialised as
the game died with both parties seemingly happy with a point apiece.
Another lacklustre performance from the Baggies and a gift of an
equaliser maintained the unbeaten record. Neither side deserved
to win the game which lacked quality throughout, save for the one
moment from Brian Deane. Albion were the better side in the first
half but failed to create any clear cut chances despite numerous
crosses into the box. But we were grateful for the point in the
end.
RESULT - WEST BROMWICH ALBION 1 WEST
HAM UNITED 1
Marks
Hoult - 7 - Largely untroubled.
Gregan - 6 - Fairly solid but his distribution was poor.
Gaardsoe - 8 - MOM. Marshalled the defence superbly.
Gilchrist - 6 - Same as Gregan.
Haas - 7 - Not as effective as on Wednesday, but not bad overall.
Koumas - 5 - Very disappointing performance.
Johnson - 7 - Good solid game.
O'Connor - 7 - Good game other than the mistake which led to the
goal.
Clement - 7 - Pretty good performance, probably did enough to keep
his place. Should've taken Stockdale on more often.
Dichio - 7 - Another good showing, pity about the injury.
Hulse - 6 - Did OK, never really showed what he can do.
Dobie - 6 - Ran his heart out, but never looked dangerous.
Sakiri - 5 - Does not get into games quickly enough as a sub.
Robinson - 6 - Made little impact
The Manager - 7 - Couldn't have done much more, but his players
didn't do enough on the day.
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West
Bromwich Albion (3-5-2):
Hoult; Gregan, Gaardsoe, Gilchrist (Robinson 78); Haas, Koumas (Sakiri
69), Johnson, O'Connor, Clement; Dichio (Dobie 37), Hulse. Subs
not used: Murphy (GK), J Chambers.
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West
Ham United (3-4-1-2):
James; Pearce, Dailly, Repka; Stockdale (Horlock 80), Carrick, Mullins,
Quinn; Connolly; Harewood, Deane (Hutchinson 80). Subs not used:
Bywater (GK), Ferdinand, Garcia.
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Scoring: Deane (68)
0-1, Mullins (79, o.g.) 1-1.
Bookings: West Bromwich Albion - Gaardsoe (foul 63), Johnson (foul
81), Dobie (dissent 85). West Ham United - Deane (dissent 74).
Referee: M Clattenburg (Northumberland).
Attendance: 26,194. |
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