| Saturday 26th December |
Albion |
(0) 2 |
Peterborough United |
(0) 0 |
|
| Attendance: |
24,924 |
Moore 61 |
|||
| Albion: Kiely; Zuiverloon, Meite,
Olsson, Mattock; Brunt, Dorrans, Jara, Thomas (Teixeira 70); Cox (Wood
78), Moore (Martis 90+2) Subs (not used): Allsop, Bednar, Cech, Mulumbu |
||
| Booked: Mattock, Cox | Referee: Mike Jones |
Reporter: Haydn Thompson |
Christmas Day had come and gone, and Albion had yet to win a game in December. Surely the visit of second-bottom Peterborough (who we'd already beaten at their own place) would provide the opportunity to get back to winning ways.
It didn't look that way at half time though, when there were boos as the players left the field with the game goalless - and this time they weren't for the officials. The first half had been a frustrating time for Albion, as Peterborough got eleven men behind the ball and defended with determination. But two goals in quick succession midway through the second half brought a deserved victory.
The postponement of our game against Blackpool a week earlier had given Newcastle the opportunity to move ten points above us at the top of the Championship table, and at the same time Nottingham Forest - the division's other form team - had moved level with us on points. Moving on to this "unofficial Boxing Day", both Newcastle and Forest's games had been among several that (for some reason that passed me by) had kicked off early, and they'd both ended in draws. It would have been worse had either of them won of course, but The Hawthorns' biggest crowd of the season was expecting a win that would take advantage of our rivals' respective slip-ups.
RDM named an unchanged side, and with the exception of the goalkeeper (Scott Carson being still suspended) this was the same one as the last time he'd had that luxury. His first choice eleven now seems well established, and with the aforementioned exception, this is it. But it will be interesting to see what happens in January - not least the anticipated return to fitness of Ishmael Miller and James Morrison.
As already hinted, the first half was really a stalemate as Peterborough made their ambitions (or rather their lack thereof) abundantly clear. With Albion dominating the possession, the first real chance fell to Jerome Thomas, whose 20-yard volley from a half-cleared corner was deflected wide. Then Jara tried to thread a pass through to Gianni Zuiverlooon, but it ballooned up from a Posh boot and Zuiverloon's half volley sailed high over the bar.
Second halfDi Matteo later admitted to raising his voice at half time, and Albion certainly looked more determined as the second half opened. The breakthrough duly arrived just past the hour mark: Graham Dorrans, bringing the ball out from defence in true "box-to-box" fashion, feinted to shoot from the edge of the D, but instead laid it off to Luke Moore. The defence was caught wrong-footed, but Moore turned sharply and 'keeper Lewis could only parry his first-time shot. It was only his fourth goal of the season - and two of the previous three had come against the same opposition.
The second came just six minutes later. Chris Brunt's innocuous cross from the right was only partially cleared; Luke Moore volleyed it into the ground from the edge of the D, but it looped up dangerously. Peterborough's 19-year-old centre-back Ryan Bennett (on loan from Grimsby), under pressure from Dorrans, got his head to it, but he knew little about it and the ball flew in past Lewis at his left-hand post.
As the game began to open up, Di Matteo brought Teixeira on to replace Thomas. There was no respite for the Peterborough defence though, as Teixeira proved equally troublesome and had a couple of useful attempts on goal. It was Chris Wood however (who'd replaced Cox with twelve minutes remaining) that got the best chance to make it 3-0, side-footing it narrowly past the far post when found by Chris Brunt in acres of space wide on the right hand side.
Despite the half-time boos, this was a routine job efficiently done by Albion. Peterborough's negative tactics worked for an hour, but after the eventual breakthrough they had precious little to come back with. And in all honestly, Albion still had another gear should we have needed it.