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 Saturday 12th August 2006, Coca-Cola Championship, St Mary's Stadium, Kick-Off 3:00pm
Southampton: Kelvin Davis, Alexander Ostlund, Chris Baird, Pele, Gareth Bale, Djamel Belmadi, Jermaine Wright, John Viafara, Rudi Skacel (Andrew Surman 57), Bradley Wright-Phillips, Grzegorz Rasiak (Kenwyne Jones 83). Subs not used: Michael Poke (gk), Martin Cranie, Nathan Dyer
Albion: Pascal Zuberbuhler, Steve Watson, Curtis Davies (c), Chris Perry, Paul Robinson, Zoltan Gera, Ronnie Wallwork (Junichi Inamoto 71), Nigel Quashie, Jonathan Greening (Richard Chaplow 71), Nathan Ellington (Darren Carter 26), John Hartson. Subs not used: Luke Steele (gk), Martin Albrechtsen
Referee: Steve Tanner (Somerset)
Half-Time:
Southampton 0-0 Albion
Attendance: 24,233 Conditions:
Cloudy with sunny spells
ALBION
TEAM NEWS:
Baggies' boss Bryan Robson kept faith with the team that had
started the last two games. The only change
from Tuesday night's game at Cardiff came on the substitutes' bench with new
signing Luke Steele replacing Russell Hoult. SOUTHAMPTON
TEAM NEWS:
With defenders Gareth Bale and Pele passing late fitness
tests, Saints' boss George Burley named an unchanged side to the one that
beat Coventry City
2-0 on Wednesday.
STALEMATE AT ST MARYS
For the second time in five days
Albion travelled to take on
a fellow promotion contender and for the second time in five days came home
with a point following a battling performance.
With
Albion's record in
Southampton truly abysmal - just 4 wins in 32 games - hopes of a victory
were not high but for the third successive game Bryan Robson's men got off
to a flyer. With just two minutes on the clock a clever back-heel by Nathan
Ellington gave Zoltan Gera the chance to swing in a cross from the right
which John Hartson met with a firm header that looked destined for the
bottom corner of the net. Unfortunately for
Albion, Kelvin Davis in the home goal produced a fine save to deny
Hartson his third goal of the season.
Albion continued to push
forward and just three minutes later,
Gera dispossessed Bale and hit an 18 yard drive which
Davis again did well
to save. Whilst Albion were dominating the opening spell of the game they
were lucky not to be reduced to ten men on twelve minutes when Hartson
commited an ugly chest-high challenge on Alexander Ostlund. Thankfully for
Albion referee Steve Tanner let the former Celtic star off with a booking.
Despite the Baggies' lively start the hosts began to get a
foothold in the game with former
Manchester City starlet
Bradley Wright-Phillips causing a number of problems in and around the
Albion penalty area. With pace, skill, and an eye for goal he is just the
sort of player we so desperately need at The Hawthorns, a need highlighted
even more on 26 minutes when Ellington once again limped out of the action
with his hamstring injury. As at Cardiff in midweek Darren Carter came on
for Ellington whilst
Gera was pushed up front to partner Hartson. Former Blues'
man Carter almost made a dream start, flashing a 20-yard free-kick just wide
with his first touch.
The hosts then began to dominate with that man
Wright-Phillips again the Saints' main threat. Seven minutes before
half-time he forced a good save out of Pascal Zuberbuhler in the visitors
goal before then trying his luck with a 25-yard drive which whizzed inches
wide with Swiss keeper Zuberbuhler rooted to the spot.
Albion had a lucky escape in
the final minute of the half when the otherwise excellent Chris Perry
misjudged Gareth Bale's curling cross to allow a clear shot on goal for
former Spurs' striker Grzegorz Rasiak. Luckily for Perry and
Albion the striker could only shoot weakly at Zuberbuhler.
Saints started the second-half in a similar fashion to how
they ended the first and should have taken the lead when Rasiak broke
through on goal, this time following a Davies mistake, thankfully once again
a poor finish from the Polish international let
Albion off the hook.
The home side came even closer to taking the lead on 59
minutes when John Viafara's blocked shot fell to Ostlund, whose low drive
across the six-yard box flew inches wide just missing the outstretched boot
of Wright-Phillips who himself was the next player to try his luck, flashing
a15-yard piledriver narrowly wide.
Baggies' boss Robson made a double substitution on 63 minutes
replacing the ineffective Ronnie Wallwork and Jonathan Greening with Junichi
Inamoto and former St Mary's loanee Richard Chaplow.
Still the hosts continued to dominate though and twice in the
matter of four minutes almost took the lead. First Saints' substitute Andrew Surman's corner broke kindly in the box for Chris Baird only for the
centre-half to screw his effort horribly wide from 12 yards out. Rising star
Bale came even closer in the 78th minute when his delightfully curled
free-kick struck the foot of Zuberbuhler's right-hand post before being
cleared to safety.
With the home side perhaps sensing this was not to be their
day Albion started to
get themselves back into the game and if anything looked the most likely
scorers as the game approached it's climax although an overhead free-kick
from Gera which drifted wide was the closest they would come to a goal.
ALBION MAN OF THE MATCH: Chris Perry
PLAYER RATINGS OUT OF TEN
Zuberbuhler
6 - His best performance yet although still looks unsure with crosses into
the box.
Watson 5 - Struggling for form.
SUBS:
REF
WATCH
Steve Tanner 3 - Far too whistle happy in favour
of the home team.
FAN
WATCH saintsfc.co.uk baggies.com wbaunofficial.com Saints Forever Sporting Life
Bryan Robson: "It was a tough game and the players' attitude and commitment in the last two games has pleased me. Cardiff and Southampton are both teams who are going to be challenging at the top. "If my players had come into this division with a slack attitude we could have lost the last two games. They've been resilient and defensively I thought we were good today. Our passing was poor in the second half but we can improve on that. "I thought the three lads that came on performed quite well and gave us some energy. They did the same in the week against Cardiff. I was pleased with them. "It was a good save from their keeper to deny John early on and I thought we played well in the first 25 minutes. But Southampton came back into it in the second half and I thought the draw was a fair result for both teams. "Once we get Nathan fit and sharp, he can live off John's flick-ons because that's two games where it's a shame we haven't had anyone to get on the end of John's good flicks. Even though I played Zoltan up there, and he tries hard, his tendency is to come short and play with the midfield players rather than run beyond. For us to be a real threat in this division we need someone running through and that's why we're looking for strikers." Source: wba.co.uk
George Burley: "It would have been nice to have had more points - and we might well have done. We were a couple of minutes away from winning at Derby and I thought we had the better chances today. "We were disappointed not to win but it was a decent performance. For me, West Brom have the strongest squad in the league and we more than matched them. You want to judge yourself against the favourites and we were disappointed not to get three points. "We started slowly again which showed we are still a new side in the early stages of getting to know each other. But we got on top in the second half and created a number of good chances which we could not quite take even though I thought our strikers were excellent. "And young Gareth was very unlucky with the free-kick. There was no question in my mind that he should take it after scoring two in two. The keeper did not move and it was flush on the post. Someone could have got a touch to put it in but I suppose it was asking too much for him to get three in three. It certainly is not beginner's luck with him because he has shown that in training. He has had a good pre-season and is full of confidence. He is a young boy with a lot of pressure on him but he has come through and done very well and has a big future in the game. We will have to monitor his progress as the weeks go by and maybe take him out of the side if need be but right now we do not have any experienced cover at left-back. We are a bit short in the centre of defence too. It is not the biggest squad so we will be looking to strengthen." Source: saintsfc.co.uk
Zoltan Gera makes his 50th start
for the club. |
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