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 Saturday 19th November 2005, Barclays Premiership, The Hawthorns, Kick-Off 5:15pm
Albion:
Kuszczak, Watson, C Davies, Clement, Albrechtsen, Greening, Wallwork,
Inamoto, Kamara (Carter 63), Horsfield (Kanu 36), Ellington (Earnshaw 85).
Subs not used: Hoult (gk), Moore Everton: Martyn, Hibbert, Weir, Yobo, Neville, van der Meyde (McFadden 74),
Arteta (Osman 77), S Davies, Kilbane, Bent, Beattie (Ferguson
64). Subs not used: Wright (gk), Kroldrup
Referee: Dermot Gallagher (Oxfordshire)
Assistant Referees: Dave Babski (Lincolnshire),
Rob Martin (South Yorkshire) Half-Time: Albion 1-0 Everton Attendance: 24,784 Conditions: Clear and very cold
MATCH REPORT
BY: ALBION TEAM NEWS:
Baggies' boss Bryan Robson made two changes to the side
that lost at West Ham a fortnight ago, Kanu and Rob Earnshaw dropped to
the bench making way for Geoff Horsfield and Nathan Ellington.
Albion
were without Kirkland, Gera, and Campbell due to injury whilst Paul
Robinson served the last game of his three match suspension. EVERTON TEAM NEWS:
Tim Cahill missed the game after suffering a groin strain
during Australia's World Cup play-off victory over Uruguay in midweek but
Duncan Ferguson was fit after shaking off an illness bug. The Toffees were
without long-term injury victims Alessandro Pistone, Lee Carsley and Gary
Naysmith whilst Nuno Valente and Matteo Ferrari also missed out through
injury. DUKE DOUBLE
SEES OFF THE TOFFEES
“It’s just like watching
Brazil,” sang
half a dozen fans walking down the
Birmingham Road
after the game, and whilst I wouldn’t go that far
it was certainly our best performance of the season, for me surpassing the
victory over Arsenal. Admittedly it came against a distinctly average
Everton side but it must be remembered they had beat Middlesbrough and Blues
in their last two games and prior to that they had taken a point off
Chelsea.
The team selection held no real surprises, much
to the chagrin of the majority of
Albion
fans Geoff Horsfield returned to the side and although
his commitment can never be questioned is he really the striker to solve our
striking problems? Nathan Ellington also returned to the starting line-up,
his name being met with more enthusiasm when announced.
Albion began the
stronger of the two sides with Junichi Inamoto particularly impressive in
midfield. Since his return to the side at Fulham he has been a revelation,
which begs the question why hasn’t he figured more this season? Jonathan
Greening also started the game well, looking far more dangerous than of late
the former Middlesbrough man sent over a number of
inviting crosses only to see no
Albion
player manage to get on the end of them.
If the players’ confidence was low it certainly
wasn’t showing as Inamoto, Ellington and Kamara all tried their luck with
efforts that were blocked by a combination of Nigel Martyn and the Toffees' defence. Geoff Horsfield also had a good claim for a penalty turned down
after Phil Neville had appeared to handle the striker’s cross.
As the midway stage of the half approached
Everton started to claw their way back into the game although without
actually looking likely to score. Up front for them
Marcus Bent always looked lively but the
same cannot be said of his strike partner James Beattie, the £6 million man
looking very sluggish.
In the 36th minute
Albion were
forced into a change after the ineffective Horsfield was forced off through
injury. His replacement Kanu would soon swing the game into Albion’s favour.
He remains the only striker on
Albion’s books that can actually control and pass a
ball and it was his vision and passing ability that led to
Albion winning a
penalty on the stroke of half-time.
After holding off the challenge of an Everton
defender the lanky Nigerian played Ellington through on goal only for the
former
Wigan striker to be brought down by Everton defender Hibbert,
television replays did show the challenge had
actually occurred outside the box but there wasn’t
an Albion fan in the ground that could
care less. Despite Diomansy Kamara staking his claim to take it, it was Ellington himself that
placed the ball on the spot, although he does
sometimes give the appearance of a man severely lacking in confidence he
converted probably the most nonchalantly taken penalty this writer has ever
seen at The Hawthorns.
It took just five minutes of the second half for
Albion to
double the lead, Kanu again playing a part in the goal after winning the
corner from which Neil Clement headed home past Nigel Martyn. Clement was
having his best game for some time although he did still manage to make the
odd mistake, thankfully due to Everton’s lack of quality up front he got
away with them today.
With
Albion
now 2-0 up the game sort of drifted into a lull with
Albion
content to defend and Everton lacking ideas on how to beat
Albion’s
defence which was marshalled superbly by Curtis Davies and Steve Watson.
Although Davies’ distribution needs to improve his defending cannot be
faulted. Watson too is starting to look like an important signing. His early
season displays gave the impression of someone that was too slow and no
longer good enough, his recent displays have given the impression of a
determined and quality footballer.
Although Everton did test the very shaky looking
Tomasz Kuszczak out on a number of
occasions they never really looked likely to beat
him although the Polish keeper can consider himself very
lucky after clearly handling the ball
outside the penalty area, thankfully neither referee Gallagher or the
assistant referee spotted it.
The 69th minute saw
Albion
finally make sure of all three points when Ellington curled a left-foot shot
into the bottom corner of the net from 18 yards
after that man Kanu had once again provided the final pass. For the first
time at The Hawthorns in Premiership action Albion had a three goal lead and
boy did it tell, a huge weight had been lifted off the shoulders of not only
the players but also the fans who for the first time this season could sit
back and enjoy the closing stages of a game.
Five minutes from time and after an impressive
performance which will surely see him start again at
Middlesbrough
next week the two goal Ellington was replaced by Rob Earnshaw and it took
just five minutes for the livewire striker to get himself on the scoresheet.
After racing on to a poor backpass from ex-Albion winger
Kevin Kilbane the Welsh star coolly beat the advancing Martyn to make it
4-0.
Although the fans broke into a chant of “We want
five” most of them were more than happy with ’just’ four. The result,
Albion’s biggest
ever in the Premiership lifted the club out of the bottom three
and above the day's opponents. With a tough trip to Middlesbrough
next on the agenda we must hope that this result does indeed signal a
turnaround in fortunes and form at The Hawthorns. MAN
OF THE MATCH: Junichi Inamoto
PLAYER RATINGS OUT OF TEN Kuszczak
- 5 Looked very shaky at times, kicked poorly throughout.
Watson -
7 Good solid performance against his former club. REF WATCH Dermot Gallagher 3 - Very poor performance, made mistakes with decisions for both sides.
FAN WATCH
wba.co.uk
Bryan Robson: "That result has been coming with the chances we've been creating in games. When you've got the calibre of players we have at the club, you can't keep missing chances.” “We haven't really had a break but tonight we got one. We maybe could have had a penalty earlier than the one we won but then someone told me the spot-kick we did get may have happened outside the box. We haven't been getting anything like that this season so we were due a break. Once we got it the lads took full advantage and we played some very good football." "It's great because we have moved out of the bottom three with a convincing win, which is good for confidence. But what we have to do is regroup on Monday and plan for Middlesbrough. We must take this sort of performance into the Middlesbrough game. Then we'll know if we've turned the corner or not." Source: wba.co.uk
David Moyes: "It was not very good. We have had some good performances in recent weeks but that wasn't the case today.” "I think the first goal came from a penalty where the challenge took place outside the box and that changed the course of the game. But I am not blaming that for our performance. I expect an Everton side to show more steel and determination than today. Teams can play poorly but you shouldn't be found wanting when it comes to winning battles on the pitch. You should be determined and competing and we didn't have enough of that today.” "We have to draw on the previous three games against Chelsea, Birmingham and Middlesbrough when we played well and look to respond with a similar sort of performance when we play again." Source: Sporting Life
The result is Albion's biggest ever in the Premier League.
Nathan
Ellington scores his first league goal for the club. |
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