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Albion 3 Plymouth 0 – report
Saturday 1st March 2008, 6:44PM GMT.
Albion 3 Plymouth 0
The Baggies are back. Tony Mowbray’s under pressure side answered their critics with a return to form which saw off in-form Plymouth.
Goals from Zoltan Gera, Ishmael Miller and – inevitably it seems these days – Roman Bednar made light of the challenge from a team which have come roaring into the promotion picture with four wins in a row.
It was just what Albion needed to settle their nerves and convince anxious fans that they are not in the business of repeating last season’s fade out after a recent dip in results.
Gera got them going with a vital goal just before the break, the Hungarian international having been left out of the starting line-up before replacing the injured Filipe Teixeira after barely quarter of an hour.
Gera went on to produce another terrific performance which certainly would have been helped by the 45th minute goal he bundled over from close range after Plymouth keeper Luke McCormick had only been able to parry a Miller shot.
But in the second half the Baggies were rampant once Miller had brought them some breathing space with a remarkable second in the 58th minute.
He somehow lobbed the keeper from the corner of the area when nothing seemed to be on for him and the Baggies responded to that by breaking away to complete Plymouth’s misery with a third goal nine minutes later.
Bednar bundled that effort home from close range after a sweeping Baggies move as the rest of the match was played out to Albion beck and call.
There was a 20 minute cameo from South Korean newcomer Do-Heon Kim which had the Albion fans off their feet in salutes as the home side turned on the style.
But most important of all were the three points which put Albion back on the march in search of the automatic promotion places they are desperate to reclaim.
The win moved the Baggies two points closer to Watford, who drew at Burnley, and within four points of second-placed Stoke with a game in hand.
Albion fans have your say below
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Still not firing on all cylinders but the fact that we can do this to teams when not on the top of our form speaks volumes. Going up the TWB way.
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a good second half,from all the lads,the defence is getting better,hi think tony mowbray has to start with luke moore,miller scored luck goal,wrk rate is not good enought,promise land awaits
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Great to be back in winning form, especially doing it in style again. Chris brunt was superb, as was zoltan (he must start for me. The midfield purred along and the defence is showing signs of becoming very solid, it all looks good to me. Big note of thanks to the “Smethwick” again, we’ve got to keep on backing the lads like that at every game, IT DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE !!!!
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A clean sheet, Miller back to goalscoring form, and a midfield looking unstoppable could we have asked for anymore from the team! Hopefully Tony Mowbray sticks with Brunt and Gera, who were both outstanding. Man of the Match had to be Barnett for me, he won everything.
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Thats the way to do it boys lets have more in the comeing games,3-0 and it could have been more.Mowbray has to play gera and brunt from the start every week,with those two in form we can win this league
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In spite of bullying tactics by the visitors, normal service has been resumed. Now a win or draw at Hillsboro on Tuesday will scare the pants off Stoke, Watford and Bristol. Let’s they pray we survive the war down at Bristol Rovers on Saturday without too many caualties or prisoners.
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A nervy encounter in the light of recent results, but once we went two up, you saw the confidence flow through the team. If we could just be more consistent on the road we’ve got a great chance of automatic,especially with the games in hand.
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What a great win,hopefully this will kickstart the team and get us back on track for the big time
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great result,another team who came to kick us off the park,but the class showed through in the end,same again tuesday at wednesday boing boing
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good solid performance,just as people where writing us off we bounce back again,we must start with brunt and gera at wednesday tuesday boing boing
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Normal sevice has been resumed. Gera and Brunt must start the remaining games and we WILL go up.
A good solid display. Like the look of Kim in his 20 minutes, still not sure about Luke Moore, his body laguage reminds me of a certain Mr Ellington!!! Hope I’m wrong.
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The lads answered their critics in fine style and should have had more,
once again the Magnificent Magyar was in top form, the defence was solid
and the lad Kim showed some delightful touches, I’d like to see him and Moore
start.I can’t believe I’m saying this, but, I thought Uria Rennie had a good
game, in fact, I think he’s probably the best ref’ we’ve had at the Hawthorns
all season.
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Pardon me if this is a repeat! I’ll try again.
The lads answered their critics BIG style!
Once again The Magnificent Magyar was brilliant,( I dearly
hope we can hang on to him), the defence looked solid, albeit against
crap(how on earth is this shower of s***te in 6th place)
and I thought the lad Kim showed some delightful touches,
I’d like to see him and Moore start.
Also a small mention for Uriah Rennie, apart from a few decisions
known only to himself I thought by his standards he had a good game, in
fact, I thought he was possibly the best ref we’ve had this season.
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we need to start with gera and brunt,its crucial that we score the first goal to make teams come at us,once they do we kill them off with our fire power,barnett was superb at the back,
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Great result especially with QPR doing us a favour on Sunday
Smethwick end have developed the knack of silencing the away
fans they really are twelfth man
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Well done to QPR, they’ve done us a big favour taking all three points off the potters, not to mention the further six goal advantage over stoke in the goals difference column. If we can beat Watford at home(we normally do) and win the tough away game at Charlton then win our two games in hand, who knows…
Automatic promotion could still be ours.
Keep the faith – In Mowbray we trust
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Barnett was my man of the match, he cleared everything that came close to him. No fancy passes, not over passing the ball, just getting it out of the danger areas. Alby looked a bit dodgy early on, but got better as the game went on. Deano still isn’t commanding his box in the manner I would like to see, he looks a bit slow and not great on crosses. Thought Luke Steele looked effective, if not a little unorthodox for Barnsley and I heard Danek had a good game for the reserves. Looking promising for the future.
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hold tight everyone, coz were Albion remember, and nothing is eversimple we all know that between now and the end of the season we are all on that rollercoaster ride to the prem , oh and we might even get a bounus of a cup final.
if we hold our nerve and play our football it will be ours.
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Agreed No.4. Barnett won everything and was outstanding. Alby was excellent too. Chris Brunt is my favourite player at present, such class in this division. Sorry about ding-dongs in previous post but I can’t see what I type at the right hand side, it’s off the screen and doesn’t seem to want to come back either! AOL are making changes though so I’ll hope.
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Fantastic result, and what makes it better for me was that up until the 2nd goal, it was a gritty performance, we had to win the battle before we got anything in that game.
I think the main thing is the balnace the team seemed to have on Saturday especially, when Gera came on, him and Brunt down each flank don’t half make a difference, for me Brunt man of the match.
I also noticed we had more emphasis on being tighter and not so much gung ho, but we still had the passing and movement when going forward, was very impressed in a solid display and congratulations to the defence who stood strong and dealt with everything. Well done Kiely on a clean sheet, I hope this brings confidence out in him, although the 10 players in front gave him an easy afternoon which is what a GK should be hoping for.
Onto Sheff W tomorrow, hopefully the midfield stays the way it was, and we can start to build a run into the final hurdle of the season.
One last thing hope Texiera’s injury is not has bad as it appeared on Saturday.
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Cracking game to watch, especially sat in the Smethwick!! A number of players impressed…Barnett at
the back had his best game ive seen, he was calm and kept his head, Brunt and Gera both looked quality, a thought goes out to tex, I think he’s got a big future at the club, hope he’s back in the run for a
place sooner rather than later. Not sure about Bednar and Miller together, still need more games
together to gel – still both of them scored though!
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Yes, I thought Uriah was excellent entertainment but what happened to the rest of the circus.
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A great result and back on track. Whilst we are a few points behind, we do have to play Watford and Charlton and that could have a huge bearing. Watford have Norwich on Tuesday but then have Bristol City and Stoke in their next two. These are going to end up taking points off each other and should allow us to close the gap.
Blip over?
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