Kevin Phillips scoring winners against the old enemy, Albion back on top of the Championship.

Yes, normal service has resumed for the Baggies faithful.

They took just seven minutes to taunt their neighbours by hailing celebrated old boy Kevin Phillips in song but had to wait a little longer for the team he left behind to clinch the victory which capitalised on a bad night for rivals Newcastle and Nottingham Forest.

In between came some fitful form from Roberto Di Matteo’s team and a game challenge from a lively Scunthorpe let down only by the absence of a keen, cutting edge.

Ultimately, though, Albion gave The Hawthorns enough glimpses of the qualities which have returned them to the summit on the back of a four-game winning streak as a splendid early goal from Roman Bednar was followed by a late second from Gianni Zuiverloon.

This progress back towards the division from which ol’ “SuperKev” did his best to eject Wolves at the weekend is being conducted by a team changing more rapidly than might have been expected.

Only five ‘mainstays’ from the former manager’s reign started last night’s game and one of them, Robert Koren, continues to carry the air of a man who, despite his recent return to the first-team, resents losing his position as an Albion A-lister in the new regime.

Substituted after 66 minutes,  Koren made a bad-tempered exit, ‘blanking’ Eddie Newton while refusing to shake his manager’s hand. The Slovenian captain was verbally clipped around the ears by Di Matteo afterwards, a sure sign of major disapproval from such an undemonstrative football man.

But perhaps he feel the challenge of the fresh talents continuing to pitch up. Last night, The Hawthorns gave a justified nod of approval to loaned West Ham youngster Frank Nouble and while it may have been over-stretching the welcome mat for the sponsors to name him Man of the Match, the promise of a player able to replicate what Ishmael Miller brings to the attack was obvious.

Dutch import Andy Slory only had time for a cameo from the substitutes’ bench although a little double-shuffle in an audacious exchange with Graham Dorrans whetted the appetite for still more.

In short, Di Matteo’s Albion give off the impression of a team searching around the fringes of  higher-grade football for extra dimensions while holding steady the promotion course expected of them and that is no mean managerial feat.

Their return to the top is on goal difference only and cautioned by the game in hand Newcastle hold. But the Baggies are 11 points clear of fourth, a massive 16 clear of sixth. The minimum target of reaching the play offs is already in the bag and now that third-place Forest are showing signs of wobbling after such a lengthy unbeaten spell, it would be a brave man who would back against automatic promotion for an Albion team which has repeatedly hit back strongly from its own setbacks this season.

And when they get it right, they remain surely the sweetest footballing outfit in the contest.

Certainly their first goal was a beauty and followed some encouraging in-roads made down the left hand side by Nouble which included setting up an eighth-minute chance for Bednar which the lone central striker side-footed over the bar.

With Vladimir Smicer making his first visit to The Hawthorns as the new coach of the Czech Republic, the anguish on Bednar’s face at that miss carried extra significance. But not for long.

Five minutes later, Gonzales Jara intercepted an intended Scunthorpe break-out and played in Koren down the right with a perfectly weighted pass. It was matched in quality by the midfielder’s delivery across the face of Joe Murphy’s goal where Bednar improvised cleverly with a side-heel finish off the back foot from close range.

It was at this moment of high promise that Di Matteo was reminded of his team’s frailties, perhaps not so much in their Championship abilities but in concentration. Too quickly they began to indulge themselves, too soon they began looking for the glory pass, ignoring the golden rule of this unforgiving division – never take liberties with any opposition.

Scunthorpe seized on this lapse to test Albion’s defence with some threatening advances even if they struggled to seriously extend Scott Carson but they at least brought a restless unease to Albion fans who expected more.

In fact, the game was an hour old before the home side got their momentum back and began teasing their supporters’ nerves with a succession of openings for the killer second which went begging.
Chris Brunt was the central figure for the best of them, homing in on goal at the end of one  sweeping 65th minute move – the best of the night and featuring Koren and Bednar – only to pull wide a tame finish despite the use of that trusty left foot.

Brunt broke through again to be denied by Murphy as Scunthorpe stuck manfully to their task despite the increasing influence of Graham Dorrans and the increasing openings appearing in their stretched defence as a result.

They extended Albion all the way to the 86th minute before two of Di Matteo’s substitutes combined to finish them off – Simon Cox picking out Zuiverloon for an accomplished finish taken with the right foot as Murphy advanced. It was a goal which once more underlined the changing face of Albion with both players coming into this game as midfielders but having been recruited as striker and full back respectively.

The red card Scunthorpe skipper Cliff Byrne was then shown for bringing down Slory as he sped off towards goal was a cruel postscript to the visitors’ evening but an irrelevance for Albion, even though they would have taken advantage but for some remarkable saves by Murphy to defy Cox.

By Martin Swain.