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 Tuesday 20th September 2005, Carling Cup Round 2, The Hawthorns, Kick-Off 7:45pm
Albion: Kuszczak, Watson, Moore, Clement, Albrechtsen, Greening (Kanu 59), Chaplow, Carter, Kamara (Scimeca 45), Earnshaw, Ellington. Subs not used: Gaardsoe, Wallwork, Inamoto
Bradford City: Howarth, Edghill, Wetherall, Bower, Holloway, Muirhead, Crooks, Schumacher, Petta, Cooke, Windass. Subs not used: Stewart, Cadamarteri, Emanuel, Kearney, Swift
Referee: Iain Williamson (Berkshire)
Assistant Referees: Paul Danson
(Leicestershire), Ron Ganfield (Somerset) Half-Time: Albion 2-1 Bradford City Attendance: 10,792 Conditions: Mild and dry
MATCH REPORT
BY: Dale Brookes WEST BROM TEAM NEWS: Manager Bryan Robson made seven changes to the side that grabbed a last gasp point at the weekend against Sunderland. In came Ellington, Kamara, Kuszczak, Moore, Albrechtsen, Carter and Chaplow whilst out went Kirkland, Gera, Davies, Wallwork, Robinson, Johnson and Campbell, the Baggies fielding a strong side to make sure there would be no upset against League One outfit Bradford City. BRADFORD CITY TEAM NEWS: The inclusion of Darren Holloway is the only change for the Bantams as he replaces the cup-tied Andrew Taylor. DUKE DOUBLE BREAKS BRADFORD CUP HOPES!!! Former Wigan striker Nathan Ellington finally got off the mark for his new club as he hit a brace to crush any hopes the Bantams had of a cup upset. The Duke broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute before notching his second late on in the second half. Diomansy Kamara and Robert Earnshaw were also among the scorers as Albion moved comfortably through to the next round. Albion started the game poorly with the men from League One having the better of possession although it was the Baggies’ Darren Carter that had the first shot of the night cutely testing Howarth in the Bantams’ goal with an early free kick, luckily for City the keeper was equal to the task. Bobby Petta was then allowed far too much room to run at the home defence but his left footed shot flew wide of Kuszczak’s goal. Jonathan Greening then let fly with an effort from a tight angle but the ball hit the side-netting following a clever throw-in by Kamara. Moments later though Albion were in front as Ellington raced onto an inch perfect pass from Carter, the striker kept his composure before coolly finishing past the onrushing Howarth and into the back of the net. Kamara was causing havoc in the City defence down the left flank as this time he cut inside and hit a ferocious shot which was brilliantly tipped away by Bantams keeper Howarth but the former Pompey winger was not to be denied as moments later he rose unmarked above a static City defence to head home from a Carter free kick to notch his first goal in a West Brom shirt.
Howarth then had to produce two marvelous saves to stop his side from
going further behind as first he saved an acrobatic
Kamara effort and then
he palmed away a Carter pile driver, Earnshaw looked certain to score from
the rebound but somehow Bower cleared the ball away to safety. In the
final action of the half Bradford pulled a goal back out of the blue when
Schumacher headed in a Holloway right wing cross.
Albion, who were by now without the injured Kamara who had limped off
minutes before half time began the second half slowly. There was little
action of note until the 60th minute when Robson made his second change of
the night with Nigerian forward Kanu replacing the ineffective Greening,
the team changing from a 4-4-2 formation to 4-3-3. The change almost
worked immediately when Carter flicked on a Kuszczak long kick to put
Earnshaw in on goal but from a tight angle his left footed shot was
screwed well wide of the post. A bit
of gloss was taken off Bryan Robson’s men when Danish defender Martin
Albrechtsen was sent off after pulling down Windass who was according to
the referee’s assistant in a goal scoring position. Even with ten men
the Baggies continued to control the game and even had the ball in the net
for a fifth time thanks to Kanu, only for the referee to disallow the goal
due to an infringement. MAN OF THE MATCH: Kanu PLAYER RATINGS OUT OF TEN
Kuszczak
6 - Had virtually nothing to do, could not fault him for the goal.
REF WATCH
FAN WATCH MY REVIEW That
was a good performance and a well deserved win.
I must admit I was getting a little worried at the start when they seemed
to have more possession of the ball, but once we got that goal there was
no turning back and it was nice to see three of
our strikers get on the score sheet as I’m sure that will do their
confidence the world of good. Ellington took his goals
brilliantly and it just shows that if you play the ball into
feet to him
he will score goals! The guy has scintillating pace and I honestly believe
if we can get the ball on the floor to him he’ll be our most prolific
striker because this lad has a lot of talent. The problem is we are not utilising his talent and that is something that needs to be sorted if we
are to score goals. Ok so it was only against Bradford but who cares? At
the end of the day it does not matter whether it’s Man United or Torquay
United, he still had to put the ball in the net and that’s exactly what he
did twice. Ellington two chances two goals, Earnshaw umpteen chances one
goal. There’s your difference!
bradfordcityfc.co.uk baggies.com wbaunofficial.com sportinglife.com
Bryan Robson: "These type of games can be awkward when you don't get a big crowd and the atmosphere is not what the players are used to so. Sometimes the opposition can find it easier to motivate themselves in a match like this but I thought the attitude of the players was good and we played some really good stuff. When you look at the amount of chances we created and some of the good football we played, it was a professional job." "We can build on this performance and some good things came out of the game. I've told the lads the first half was near enough a perfect display, even though it was against lower league opposition. However, we were really slack just before half-time and allowed them to get a couple of crosses in from the right-hand side - and they scored a goal. It was slack defending and we keep having these lapses. They will cost you in the Premiership but, fortunately, it didn't tonight because we created plenty of chances and scored some good goals but we definitely need to improve on that side of things and make sure we keep clean sheets." Source: wba.co.uk
Colin Todd: "We had bigger disappointments last season losing to Rushden, Notts County and Accrington. They were far worse than getting beaten here. We haven't to get too downhearted or uptight about this. Our bread and butter is on Saturday and we have to bounce back at Swindon and not be dejected about a result like that." "The goal gave us a lifeline just on half-time. I told the players to go out for the second half and produce again and for 25 minutes we were equal to them. They were nervous and we just needed a little break but our decision-making in the final third of the field just wasn't good enough. "Bryan recognised that we were getting on top and threw on Kanu, who made a big difference. He caused us a lot of problems and changed the course of the game. They are a difficult side to play against and were forced to make the change because of how well we were playing at the time." Source: bradfordcityfc.co.uk
Nathan Ellington and Diomansy Kamara
both score their first goals at competitive level for the club. |
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