| Monday 28th December |
Scunthorpe United |
(0) 1 |
Albion |
(1) 3 |
|
| Attendance: |
7,221 |
Jones 46 |
Dorrans 19, 65 (pen.) |
||
| Albion: Kiely; Zuiverloon, Meite,
Olsson, Cech; Brunt (Martis 88), Jara, Dorrans (Mulumbu 78), Thomas; Cox
(Wood 63), Moore Subs (not used): Allsop, Teixeira, Reid, Bednar |
||
| Booked: Thomas, Jara | Referee: J. Moss |
Reporter: Haydn Thompson |
Two days after a routine home win against Peterborough United on the "unofficial" Boxing Day, there was plenty of incident in this away game against another struggling side, Scunthorpe United, on the official Bank Holiday version.
Interest amongst the Manchester Baggies was low, so I made the 100-mile trip alone. For pre-match refreshment I plumped for the Auld South Yorkshire in the village of Keadby - about as far from Glanford Park, to the west, as Scunthorpe town centre is to the east. It turned out to be an unprepossessing building both inside and out, but the locals were friendly enough. I learnt that their defender and captain Cliff Byrne, who was suspended for this game following his sending-off at Middlesbrough two days earlier, was no great loss. I was also reminded that they had a useful goalkeeper in Joe Murphy.
For Albion, Joe Mattock joined Scott Carson in the naughty corner after receiving his fifth yellow card of the season against Peterborough, so Marek Cech stepped in for his first game since the defeat against Cardiff.
The country was still gripped in a cold spell, and Glanford Stadium is not a lot of fun in these conditions. The southern third of the pitch - the one in front of the away end - which the sun cannot reach, was covered in a light frost.
Albion started well and had a couple of early chances, but we should have been a goal down after nine minutes. Garry Thompson (no, not that Garry Thompson) found himself through on goal with only Kiely to beat, but he pulled it wide.
Albion got the ball into the back of the net after a quarter of an hour, when Luke Moore muscled his way past three defenders as the ball bounced around in the penalty area. The referee pointed to the centre circle, but his assistant called him back and the goal was disallowed for a foul by Moore.
It wasn't long though before we got one that did count. Murphy could only parry Cech's dipping cross from the left, and it came out to Dorrans who volleyed it home with his left from ten yards.
Second halfAlbion were first out after the break, and you had to wonder whether we were literally caught cold within 45 seconds of the restart. Scunthorpe won a corner on the right, and it was played in to the edge of the box; Meite got a head to the resultant ball in, but could only deflect it towards the goal; central defender Rob Jones managed to get between Olsson and Cech to bundle it home from short range.
Just after the hour mark, Scunthorpe were down to ten men as midfielder Andrew Wright was shown a second yellow card for a blatant trip on Jerome Thomas. From the resultant free kick, Luke Moore got the ball in the net for a second time, but this too was disallowed - this time for offside.
In the icy conditions both Dorrans and Thomas were proving a handful for the Scunthorpe defence, and just four minutes after the sending-off Albion won a penalty when Dorrans was tackled from behind in the box. He took the penalty himself and slotted it home just inside Joe Murphy's left hand post to restore Albion's lead.
Ten minutes later Albion had another penalty. Chris Wood (who'd replaced Simon Cox soon after Albion's second goal) turned his defender neatly, found the byline, and cut it back for Luke Moore, whose advance on goal was rudely interrupted. The ref pointed to the spot; Scunthorpe midfielder Grant McCann was not impressed by the decision, and he told the referee what he thought of him - and was shown a straight red card. The penalty gave Dorrans a chance for a hat-trick, but this time he went the other way and put it too close to Murphy, who made a relatively comfortable save.
A third goal was needed, and it eventually came with just four minutes left on the clock. Brunt played the ball in from the right-hand touchline to the onrushing Zuiverloon, who smashed it home from ten yards.
It was a game of big decisions for referee Moss: two red cards, two penalties and two disallowed goals. The home crowd were far from happy with the first four (the ones that went against them); but the truth was that in these conditions, Scunthorpe's defence was unable to handle the threat of Thomas and Dorrans in particular, and this was what led to Wright's second yellow and both penalties. As I returned to my car, I overheard a home supporter claiming that the second penalty was "a brilliant tackle". Well it was at the far end from us away fans so I had no argument at the time, but I've now watched it on video countless times and although the footage is inconclusive, there doesn't seem to be much of a deflection to the ball following the defender's intervention.
And individual incidents apart, there was little real doubt that Albion deserved to win this game.