Gera turns it on for Albion

West Bromwich Albion 3 Plymouth Argyle 0

Zoltan Gera came off the subs bench on Saturday and left The Hawthorns wondering what on earth he was doing there in the first place, writes Martin Swain.

Manager Tony Mowbray gave his gifted midfielder a break from the front-line after the previous week's game against Hull had turned cruelly on the Hungarian.

But an early injury to the unfortunate Filipe Teixeira sent Gera springing back into the fray against Plymouth and his impact could scarcely have been more dramatic.

From first touch to last, Gera was the inspiration behind a victory and performance which will hopefully settle a few nerves in and around The Hawthorns.

So comprehensive was the Baggies win that, by the finish, it was difficult to believe that this game had started with some intense pressure buckling the knees of the team's promotion challenge.

Let's remind ourselves that Plymouth came into this game having raced through the middle-ranges of the Championship with four straight wins to announce their own promotion challenge.

The fact that some 2,000 fans slogged their way up the M5 in support of their challenge further testified to the threat Argyle were intent on bringing to Albion's door.

In the end, it was all so much bluster or, as their manager Paul Sturrock acknowledged after his team's thorough beating: "There's an old Scottish saying – 'let's get on the bus and get up the road' and that's how I feel.'

You can bet Sturrock had hoped for much better especially when he saw Albion's team sheet confirming Gera's demotion to the substitutes.

Plymouth then set about replicating the frustration game which Hull City had employed to good effect a week earlier and while they never carried the same threat posed by Fraizer Campbell and Caleb Folan, they were solid enough to bring edginess creeping up to the surface of Albion's performance.

But it all went wrong for Plymouth from the moment it all went wrong for Teixeira.

A challenge from behind by Gary Sawyer after 18 minutes left Gera's replacement being stretchered off with a wrenched knee and on came the afternoon's star turn to make his game-turning, match-winning contribution.

Nothing has surprised Albion's hierarchy more this season than the passing of January without a single enquiry about Gera.

They were not complaining, of course, but they had anticipated potential suitors showing their hand.

Had anything materialised, Albion's governors would have given them short shrift and everything about Gera's game these days suggests he would not have wanted it any other way.

He wants to stay alright – and stay he will if the Baggies are promoted, a crusade you sense this silky, springy player is relishing more than at any stage of his Hawthorns career.

A week earlier, it was a Gera error which sent Folan away for Hull's winning goal before a point-blank equalising chance was volleyed over the bar, a lapse which was as costly as it was surprising for arguably the club's most technically adept footballer.

If he felt a sense of guilt about any of that, Saturday was a stirring act of atonement.

Perhaps the presence of fellow countryman Peter Halmosi in Plymouth's ranks added to his motivation.

The pair could be seen exchanging conversation during breaks in the game but by the time a resigned Sturrock withdrew his own goalscoring playmaker with 20 minutes left, Albion's man had reminded everyone just who the leading Hungarian footballer in England is still.

What was impressive, even by Gera's standards, was the instant nature of his impact.

His very first touch was the surest of passes, executed under pressure with the outside of his right foot, which all Baggies fans immediately identified as a signal for one of the midfielder's special days – and they were not disappointed.

For all the confidence his presence restored to the team, it was his goal, as the game went into first half added time, which was the single most vital input.

A little frustration that half chances had not been turned into an advantage was in danger of infecting Albion's confidence when Plymouth failed to deal with a Carl Hoefkens chip which ultimately led to Luke McCormick able only to parry a shot from Ishmael Miller.

Gera was in the right place at the right time to bundle the ball over the line and the relief poured out of the goalscorer as much it did the Albion faithful.

Settled by that breakthrough, the second half saw Albion go through the gears until, by the midway point of the second period, they were in rampant, show-stopping mood before Mowbray reminded them there was a game to be won with some tactical shifts to ensure there was no way back for Plymouth.

And for all their qualities and for all the debate about whether Albion are too open for their own good, perhaps the most important factor in football remains getting a break from the gods.

In a curious way which does Teixeira no favours, the Baggies got one with his injury.

And they got another with the game approaching the hour mark by which time Miller had twice been denied goals by desperate defending.

The powerful forward was tussling away for possession on the corner of Plymouth's area when he swung his left boot at the ball – an act of nuisance value as much as anything – and executed an accidentally-precise over-the-shoulder lob which flummoxed McCormick and sailed into the net.

Roman Bednar's customary strike – "it's almost as if we score just by putting his name on the team sheet," said Mowbray – came from Albion at their very best, Gera eventually heading down Jonathan Greening's cross for a tap-in which climaxed a vibrant spell of attacking football.

So crisis over? Everyone calm again? Well, this is Albion and who knows what will come next.

But their lip-chewing fans will have welcomed Leon Barnett's uncompromising performance in defence, the stand-out feature of what Mowbray rightly described as a more pragmatic display, as well as the influence of Chris Brunt's sumptuous left foot and the welcome return of Miller.