Albion No 2 fumes at Rochdale loss
Wednesday 27th July 2011, 8:39AM BST.
Assistant boss Michael Appleton hit out at Albion’s misfiring youngsters after they slid to a 3-0 defeat at Rochdale.
See also: Pictures from Rochdale 3 Albion 0
A youthful Baggies side were well beaten by the League One outfit as Ashley Grimes and a Gary Jones penalty made it 2-0 at half-time before Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro completed the scoring.
Steven Reid and Roman Bednar were the only experienced professionals in a visiting team otherwise made up of young players.
But Appleton refused to use age as an excuse for a below-par display at Spotland.
He said: “I was bitterly disappointed. I said what I had to say to them in strong terms at half-time and did it again at the end.
“I could make excuses about our really young team against League One professionals who have played quite a few league games but that’s not my style.
“If they want to play league football or get anywhere near the first team at a Premier League club like ours, they have got a hell of a long way to go from that.”
Rochdale had the first chance of the game when, after a neat passing move, captain Jones hit a powerful shot that Baggies goalkeeper Luke Daniels had to turn over.
And the Dale pressure continued until they took the lead on six minutes.
A long ball looked relatively harmless but a mix-up between Daniels and Craig Dawson, making his return to Spotland, saw the centre-back outmuscled by Grimes, who dispatched an unstoppable shot past Daniels.
On 21 minutes, Albion won a corner which was taken by Kemar Roofe and headed wide by Dawson, climbing at the far post.
Rochdale continued to carry the greater threat, however, and when the lively Akpa Akpro controlled a high ball well in the box, he drew a sliding challenge from Reid and won his side a blatant penalty.
Jones made no mistake, blasting a shot past a full-stretch Daniels on 28 minutes.
The third goal arrived with 10 minutes to go as Albion failed to clear their lines and Akpa Akpro turned smartly on the edge of the box and fired into the bottom corner.
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