Albion blogger Jarrod Hill goes to the Hawthorns a happy man after a late show saw off the Pilgrims after a long old poke down to Plymouth.

As we entered the ground after a little refreshment with Sir Terry (due to the long journey of course) the sun was shining and I foolishly said that it was good conditions for a game of football, and then I saw the pitch.

It looked like farmer Giles had ploughed furrows into it and I feared the game may turn into a bit of a battle, and so it did.

Fair play to Plymouth who are fighting for their lives at the wrong end of the table, they used everything they had to attempt to put us off our game and to some degree it worked.

Roberto Di Matteo made a number of changes, the most surprising one being the resting of our rock in defence, Jonas Olsson. Abdoulaye Meite made his first appearance since returning from the African Cup of Nations and joined a new look defence which also saw the return of Joe Mattock and Gianni Zuiverloon.

It took the lads a while to adjust to the surface and in truth never really looked comfortable, but to be honest unless you were a cabbage patch doll nobody would have been comfortable on it.

Plymouth put us under pressure on occasion but with Tamas having easily his best game yet in a baggies shirt the lads stood firm. Mattock and Zuiverloon struggled the most but did gradually get better as the game wore on.

It may not have registered much of an interest outside of our club but if we are to achieve promotion this season we may look back and realise what an important week last week was.

Two away wins at grounds that can be less than accommodating was truly superb, and although we never hit top form on Saturday we did enough to win, and at present that is what matters most.

The win could have been sealed earlier, however it was a surprise to see Graham Dorrans miss a penalty.

He changed his side and the keeper made an excellent save to deny him adding to his already impressive tally. In fact I was impressed by Stockdale the Plymouth keeper, who had an excellent game. Simon Cox was asked to play the supporting role to Bednar who was again the lone striker, he slowly grew into the role and took his goal well, but I am unsure as to whether it suits his natural game.

The only down side to the game was the red card shown to Jerome Thomas.

It was born out of frustration as he had been the target of some rather robust challenges throughout the game. He will be a big miss in the games to come but it has now presented Andy Slory with an opportunity to show us what he can do starting with tonight’s home game against Scunthorpe. He looks to be a similar type of player with pace to burn and two good feet, I just hope he can chip in with goals in the same way JT has all season.

The news that Marek Cech will be out of action for two to three weeks is a blow as he was playing well, but this is why RDM has built a squad, and when injuries and suspensions come along it is up to the players coming in to do a job and push their own claims for staying in the team.

The sheer amount of games means that players will need some rotating and we need to hope that our squad, not just our first team can push us on.

Roman Bednar has quickly become a key member of the squad again with the switch to playing five in midfield. We have a number of strikers at the club but he is far and away the most suited to playing the lone striker role. This may surprise a few of you but the next best striker in my opinion we have to playing that role is Luke Moore, but his goal to game ratio is much poorer and you will then understand my fear of losing Bednar for any length of time.

He has become the key to making this system work and I just hope the club are keeping him wrapped in cotton wool between games. RDM will want to give him a rest at some time and along with the news that Ishmael Miller will be out longer than first thought; it would explain the loan signing of young Frank Nouble from West Ham.

He is described as a powerful front man with pace and his arrival will give support to our attacking options. He has slipped down the pecking order at West Ham due to the return from injury of Carlton Cole and their January signings of Benni Mcarthy and Mido.

Maybe RDM has realised that without Bednar the new formation possibly wouldn’t work as well and has ear marked young Nouble as a player that can come in and play a similar role to the one Bednar performs so well.

It really would be a perfect week at the club if we can secure three points tonight, I think the first goal will be vital and if we can score early it will force Scunthorpe to play a more expansive game and hopefully result in us going on to win the game. But if this league teaches us anything, nothing is a foregone conclusion and we must be at our best in every game.

Lastly I would like to thank Sir Terry Baggie for securing us our coach tickets for Plymouth, they were sold out but he managed to pull some strings, I’ve asked him if he could get me on the bench for tonight’s game but I am still waiting to hear!

Come on you Baggies.