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 Monday 2nd January 2006, Barclays Premiership, The Hawthorns, Kick-Off 12:00pm
Albion: Kuszczak,
Albrechtsen, C Davies, Clement (Horsfield 83), Robinson, Kamara, Watson,
Carter, Greening, Kanu, Ellington (Campbell 88). Subs not used:
Kirkland
(gk), Moore, Chaplow
Aston Villa:
Taylor, Hughes, Delaney, Mellberg, Barry, Davis, McCann, Bakke (Angel 62),
Milner, Baros, Moore (Gardner 85). Subs not used:
Henderson
(gk), Djemba-Djemba, Ridgewell
Referee: Rob Styles (Hampshire)
Assistant Referees: Bernard Baker (Hampshire),
Barry Sygmuta (North Yorkshire)
Half-Time:
Attendance: 27,073 Conditions: Sunny spells
MATCH REPORT
BY: ALBION TEAM NEWS: Kanu, Nathan Ellington, Diomansy Kamara and Jonathan Greening all returned to the starting line-up after sitting out the trip to Anfield. Richard Chaplow, Geoff Horsfield and Kevin Campbell all dropped to the subs bench whilst Ronnie Wallwork, Junichi Inamoto, Thomas Gaardsoe and Zoltan Gera all missed out through injury.ASTON VILLA TEAM NEWS: Swedish defender Olof Mellberg returned from injury to replace Liam Ridgewell whilst in goal Stuart Taylor replace the unwell Thomas Sorensen. BAROS ON THE SPOT TO NET VILLA VICTORY After resting a number of players against Liverpool on Saturday, everyone was expecting a fresh and energetic Albion side to take the game to their visitors, simply put - it just didn’t happen. As so often this season it was a performance that totally lacked ideas and quality. The team news was as expected with Kanu, Nathan Ellington, Diomansy Kamara and Jonathan Greening all returning to the starting line-up. One blow for Albion though was the absence through injury of Ronnie Wallwork. In recent weeks the former Manchester United star has been one of our better players and with Junichi Inamoto also missing our midfield on paper looked very weak indeed. As in the previous three games, want-away striker Rob Earnshaw didn’t even make the bench. As early as the 2nd minute referee Rob Styles set the tone for his afternoon’s performance when he failed to book Albion’s Neil Clement for a way too high and quite dangerous tackle on Eirik Bakke. As with a number of decisions he would make on the day, it was quite simply baffling. Albion started quite sloppily but still should really have taken the lead in the 5th minute. Kanu and Kamara cleverly combined before the latter sent over a low cross which Greening poked just wide. It was a major let-off for the visitors. The home side came close to opening the scoring again on 15 minutes when Nigerian star Kanu produced a great bit of skill to force his way into the box only to see his final shot blocked by Gareth Barry. Despite Albion being the team closest to scoring it was Villa who had taken control of the game. With Carter, Watson and Kamara continually losing possession, The Baggies’ defence was coming under more and more pressure. In the 20th minute Villa had their first real opportunity of the game when following a Clement mistake James Milner played Milan Baros in on goal, only a timely interception by the once again excellent Curtis Davies prevented an opening Villa goal. The visitors came even closer to scoring just six minutes later when the unmarked Luke Moore hit the bar from just six yards out following good work by Milner and Baros. The young striker had looked odds on to score - it was a terrible miss. Villa were now totally dominant and it seemed just a matter of time until they broke the deadlock. The tricky Milner came close to scoring twice within a minute, first firing narrowly wide after a good run and then having his corner-kick cleared off the line by the alert Paul Robinson. Villa midfielder Gavin McCann was next to try his luck with a dipping 20 yard volley which Tomasz Kuszczak did well to tip over the bar. With the half drawing to a close the men in claret and blue were presented with and wasted another golden opportunity. After failing to clear a Milner corner, Villa’s Welsh international defender Mark Delaney blazed wildly over from just six yards out when he really should of done far better. Somehow Albion had managed to make it to the break on level terms. Villa started the second half in much the same was as they ended the first and just two minutes in they opened the scoring. The impressive Steven Davies was the man that started and finished the move. As so often Neil Clement was at fault - misreading Davies’ long ball which allowed Baros to run at the Albion defence, The Czech striker laid the ball off to Moore who in turn found Milner; the ex-Leeds star crossing for the unmarked Davies to easily head home past Kuszczak. The goal did finally wake Albion up and although the quality of play was still poor, they at least started to put Villa under some pressure. Whilst the visitors looked good enough going forward their defence looked far from solid and with the jittery Stuart Taylor in goal, Albion fans sensed an equaliser could be on the cards. It almost arrived in the 66th minute when Greening’s cross come shot looked as though it was sneaking in under the bar until Taylor made a timely interception and tipped the ball over. Albion then had a strong claim for a penalty turned down after Carter’s chip into the box clearly struck Aaron Hughes’ arm. Referee Styles quickly waved away all appeals in the arrogant manner that we have come to expect from him. Television replays later showed a penalty should really have been given. Almost immediately Kamara went close to grabbing an equaliser, his header from a Greening cross being palmed away by Taylor in the Villa goal. The dangerous Milner almost doubled Villa’s lead with a shot that flashed narrowly wide before the home side’s pressure finally paid off. In the 76th minute, Jonathan Greening’s free-kick caused panic in the Villa box and was only partially cleared into the path of ex-Villa star Steve Watson who coolly fired the ball through a number of bodies and into the back of the net for his first ever Albion goal. Albion’s joy didn’t last long however, just five minutes later Villa were back in front. After Clement had once again given the ball away in a dangerous position Villa broke and only a reckless challenge from Paul Robinson prevented Moore from being clean through on goal. The resulting free-kick was quickly taken and clearly hit goalscorer Watson on the arm - penalty. Whilst there was no disputing the awarding of the penalty it was particularly galling following our ‘penalty that never was’. The Albion players also later claimed that referee Styles had been preventing them from taking any ‘quick’ free-kicks throughout the game. Seeing as in three games last season the same referee had given two penalties against us and sent two Baggies’ players off it’s fair to say it appears we are not one of his favourite teams. After all the protests had been dismissed, Baros coolly converted the spot-kick and it was game over. Despite throwing both Geoff Horsfield and Kevin Campbell Albion never really looked like salvaging a point - a Darren Carter shot from 20 yards the nearest we came to an equaliser. The defeat took our winless run against the old enemy to 13 games and 20 years. With most other teams winning around us and with a very tricky looking FA Cup tie against Reading next on the agenda, things are not looking great for Bryan Robson’s Baggies. MAN OF THE MATCH: Curtis Davies PLAYER RATINGS OUT OF TEN
Kuszczak 7 - Did what
he had to do well.
Albrechtsen
5 - Below par, never got
forward.
SUBS:
Horsfield
4 - Very little time to do anything. REF WATCH
Rob Styles 4 -
A typical Rob Styles performance - inconsistent.
FAN
WATCH
wba.co.uk
Bryan Robson:
"Every time we were taking
free-kicks, the lads were saying the referee told them they had to play to
the whistle. Yet when Gareth Barry asked the same, he was told he could take
it quickly. There seemed to be one rule for one team and another rule for
the other team. That's the only gripe we've got, that the referee didn't
allow us to play advantage and play quickly but allowed Villa to do that. It
cost us because, although it was a handball by Watto, Barry should not have
been allowed to take it when he did. Our lads were lining the wall up and
were waiting for the whistle, which is why my lads are complaining. On a
couple of occasions, we wanted to take a free-kick quickly and the ref told
my players they couldn't." "I'm
disappointed by the way we started the game. We didn't get playing in the
first half. But in the second half, I thought the lads turned it around.
They were a lot more positive in their play. For whatever reason, the
referee didn't give us a penalty when we could have had one for handball.
All of a sudden, we put Villa on the back foot and when we equalised I
thought we looked more like the team that would go on and win it."
Source: wba.co.uk
David O'Leary:
"I thought the best team won
by a mile and the margin of victory could and should have been greater.
We've come here and done a great job. We should have been in front at
half-time, but the message to the players was just to keep it going and
hopefully the goals would come.” "The
opening goal was well worked. Luke Moore and James Milner did well to create
the opening and Davo got into the sort of position we want him to get into.” “I
couldn't see the penalty through the crowd of players, but we were due a bit
of luck with a penalty decision." "We've
collected eight points from 12 over Christmas and the players deserve a lot
of credit for that. You have to remember that in the main it's been the same
players in every single game, but they've shown just how fit they are.
We're on a good run at the moment and that's moving us up the table to a
more realistic position. We just have to keep it going.” “We've
won two derbies now this season and deserved the three points in each of
them. That's great for the fans and great for the players. They deserved the
three points once again today."
Source: avfc.co.uk
Steve Watson scores his first Albion goal. |
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