Peterborough 0 Albion 2 - analysis

So the 1,500 travelling Baggies fans at London Road last night savoured every moment of a night that was pretty perfect for their team.

Tony Mowbray's side safely negotiated one of the most routine FA Cup replays on record and left the League One outpost with plenty of fringe benefits into the bargain.

Arsenal young-gun Jay Simpson rightly grabbed the post-match headlines for a stunning first Albion goal that set his new loan club on their way to comfortable third knockout victory in two seasons at Posh.

But there was much more to cheer Mowbray at the end of a day in which the alleged ire of a disgruntled full-back and the impending arrival of a giant striker threatened to divert all attention away from the job in hand.

There was the long-awaited return to the starting line-up of Filipe Teixeira, with the Portuguese promotion star managing a pleasing hour of action to ease himself back after a 10-month litany of injury setbacks.

There was an encouraging 80 minutes from Kim Do-heon as he looks to regain the early-season form that has been missing ever since a knee injury at Middlesbrough punctuated what had been a promising start to Premier League life.

There were welcome contributions from a handful of other players who have been struggling for Premier League form but grasped the opportunity to strut their stuff against the lesser resistance of a side from the third tier of English football. And there was the selection gamble that paid off as the Baggies steered a mishap-free path into the fourth round without current defensive lynchpin Jonas Olsson – left out to prevent fatigue or a fifth booking that might have ruled him out against Manchester United had things not gone Albion's way.

In short, what began as a fixture they could have done without was ultimately a decent night out for Mowbray and his players.

From early on they never looked likely to fall victim to the third round shock that Darren Ferguson's side were sniffing once they grabbed the late equaliser at The Hawthorns that required Albion to try again to extend their Cup campaign.

Posh were simply unable to find the same ingredients that contributed to their impressive and fully deserved draw on Albion territory 10 days earlier.

Ferguson's men were well below their best while Albion produced a solid performance of top flight standard, meaning the gulf in class that Posh bridged so successfully before was blown wide open last night.

From the opening stages Albion's tempo and urgency was several notches higher than they had managed in the original fixture.

Teixeira was getting his eye in within five minutes as Kim won a solid midfield tackle and his midfield colleague fired a shot low at keeper Joe Lewis. Teixeira then turned provider for Roman Bednar, who outmuscled Gabriel Zakuani but saw his shot blocked comfortably by Lewis.

Leon Barnett headed wide and Robert Koren fired at Lewis as Albion bossed proceedings and had the better of the chances.

There were occasional alarms, like when the recalled Ryan Donk's misplaced clearance allowed Charlie Lee to hit a shot that dipped just wide.

But on the whole it was Albion in charge and it came as little surprise when they went ahead on 18 minutes thanks to a moment of inspiration from the livewire Simpson.

Bednar's contribution in bringing down a tricky high ball and laying off to his strike partner was typical of another solid 90 minutes from the Czech international.

But the goal was all about Simpson, who took a couple of touches before spinning and curling an unstoppable 25-yard shot past a helpless Lewis.

George Boyd fired straight at Carson with a rare Posh chance but Albion continued to press for a second and only a brilliant defensive interception on the line from Zakuani denied Koren the simplest of tap-ins from a Paul Robinson cross.

Bednar should have added a second but he made a hash of a far-post finish from a Carl Hoefkens cross before sending a more difficult chance from the edge of the box too close to Lewis.

However, Albion's dominance was worthy of a greater lead and they duly doubled their advantage eight minutes from half-time through an unlikely source.

A half-cleared corner fell to Kim on the right and his cross found the unmarked Robinson, who planted a header past Lewis.

Bednar missed another good chance just before the interval when he fired wide from a Koren pass before Posh enjoyed their first spell of genuine pressure when they forced a succession of fruitless corners in stoppage time.

With a good lead at the interval, Albion merely had to avoid any early setbacks in order to turn the second half into a procession.

And they did so with room to spare as Bednar with a header, Teixeira with a shot and Kim with a brilliant volley all went close to adding a third.

Not until the 64th minute did the home side threaten seriously when former Wolves target Aaron Mclean fired wide after Baggies keeper Scott Carson could only parry a shot from Lee.

Lively Albion substitute Graham Dorrans sent a poor shot straight at Lewis after a fine mazy run with Albion's final attack of note.

And in stoppage time Donk had to produce a smart block to turn Mclean's shot away from goal.

But by then the match was long over as a contest.

Mowbray had withdrawn Simpson with Saturday's clash with Middlesbrough in mind and taken off Teixeira and Kim as they were re-introduced gently back into the fray.

By then even the minor details of his plan were falling into place.

If only winning in the Premier League, signing players and then keeping them happy were as straightforward, Mowbray's life would be a whole lot simpler.

By Steve Madeley.