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 Saturday 5th August 2006, Coca-Cola Championship, The Hawthorns, Kick-Off 3:00pm
Albion: Pascal Zuberbuhler, Steve Watson, Curtis Davies, Chris Perry, Paul Robinson, Zoltan Gera (Darren Carter 78), Ronnie Wallwork (Junichi Inamoto 87), Nigel Quashie, Jonathan Greening (Martin Albrechtsen 90+3), John Hartson, Nathan Ellington. Subs not used: Tomasz Kuszczak (gk), Richard Chaplow
Hull City: Boaz Myhill, Sam Ricketts, Michael Turner, Damien Delaney, Andy Dawson, Craig Fagan, Dean Marney, John Welsh, Stuart Elliott (Ryan France 29), Jon Parkin (Ben Burgess 68), Darryl Duffy (Keith Andrews 77). Subs not used: Matt Duke (gk), Alton Thelwell
Referee: Lee Probert (Gloucestershire)
Half-Time:
Albion 0-0 Hull City
Attendance: 20,682 Conditions:
Overcast and humid
ALBION
TEAM NEWS: Albion boss
Bryan Robson handed Albion league debuts to Pascal Zuberbuhler, Chris Perry
and John Hartson. Transfer seeking Zoltan Gera was named in the starting
line-up but Polish goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak, recently linked with a move
to Manchester United, had to settle for a place on the substitutes bench. HULL
CITY
TEAM NEWS:
New Tigers’ boss Phil Parkinson handed debuts to Michael
Turner, Sam Ricketts and Dean Marney. Mid-week signing from Leeds United
David Livermore missed out through injury.
HARTSON BRACE GETS BAGGIES OFF TO A FLYER
After an absence of three months, league action finally
returned to The Hawthorns with the visit of
Hull City. With the visitors
from Humberside undergoing a summer of upheaval hopes were high that Bryan
Robson’s men would end a nine year wait for an
Albion victory on the opening day of the season.
The Baggies’ team line-up held no surprises with new signings
Pascal Zuberbuhler, John Hartson and Chris Perry all handed their league
debuts. The decision to play the inferior Zuberbuhler in goal instead of
Tomasz Kuszcak perhaps the strongest sign yet that the Polish international
won’t be at The Hawthorns for very much longer. Alongside Kuszczak on the
substitutes bench was the usual glut of midfielders which was not really
much of a confidence boost for the overlooked strike duo of Rob Elvins and
Stuart Nicholson.
Albion started the game
superbly with Zoltan Gera in particular causing numerous problems to a very
slow and ponderous looking City defence. As early as the second minute the
Hungarian international embarked on a forceful right-wing run beating two
men before putting in a low cross for Nathan Ellington who cleverly back-healed
the ball into the path of the unmarked Jonathan Greening. Luckily for the
visitors Greening’s 15 yard effort was blocked by Tigers’ debutant Michael
Turner. Two minutes later Greening turned provider, swinging
over an inch perfect cross for Gera who forced a
point-blank save out of Boaz Myhill in the City goal.
The visitors were now struggling to cope with Albion’s fast
and fluent passing game and Gera and Greening combined once more in the 11th
minute when Gera found Greening with a pinpoint far-post cross, Myhill
pulling off another great save to push Greening’s downward header onto the
post. Just 60 seconds later the irrepressible
Gera should have opened the
scoring for the hosts but only managed to volley Paul Robinson’s excellent
cross high over the bar from 12 yards out. Further efforts from Hartson and
Nathan Ellington were easily kept out by the
impressive Tigers’ keeper Myhill.
The first twenty minutes were the best spell of attacking
football produced by the
Albion for quite some time,
Hull looked simply shell
shocked. Recently appointed City boss Phil Parkinson obviously felt
a change was needed to stem the flow of
Albion attacks so
brought off ineffective winger Stuart Elliott for
the more defensive minded Ryan France. Simply put the substitution worked
perfectly.
Almost immediately Gera’s influence disappeared along with
Albion’s dominance and the visitors should of took the lead on 25 minutes
when Dean Marney headed Jon Parkin's flick-on past Curtis Davies, with only
Zuberbuhler to beat, he dragged his eight yard shot well wide.
Hull had taken the
initiative and efforts from Damien Delaney and
John Welsh both tested debutant Zuberbuhler, who
just as he had against Real Sociedad last weekend,
looked far from convincing.
Although the hosts were now struggling to impose themselves
on the game, eight minutes before half-time they almost took the lead, John
Hartson and Steve Watson both seeing close range shots blocked in a
goalmouth scramble before Ronnie Wallwork fired wide when he should really
of done better.
City started the second half how they had finished the first
and almost went in front in the 48th minute when Sam Ricketts' cross was
misjudged by Zuberbuhler. The ball rebounded off the inside of the Swiss
keeper's near post straight into the path of Marney who looked certain to
score only to be denied by a superb block by Baggies’ captain Davies.
Hull were now clearly on top and Darryl Duffy should have put
the Humbersiders ahead in the 52nd minute but only
managed to head over the bar from close range
after Turner had nodded Craig Fagan's centre back across the face of goal.
City were made to pay for their poor
finishing just five minutes later when against the run of play former
Celtic striker Hartson opened his Albion scoring account with his 200th
career goal. After turning Damien Delaney on the edge of the
Hull box, Hartson ran onto Nigel Quashie's lofted through
ball before coolly lobbing Myhill from 15 yards out. The Hawthorns erupted,
perhaps more out of relief than anything else.
Within a minute of
Albion taking the lead, the visitors should of equalised. A long
goal kick from Myhill kick was misjudged by the otherwise excellent Davies,
who slipped to leave Duffy one-on-one with Zuberbuhler. Luckily for
Albion the City striker
blazed wildly over from just inside the penalty area when really he should
of done much better.
Gradually
Albion started to get back into the game and although
Hull had plenty of
possession they rarely troubled the impressive partnership of Perry and
Davies. What former Charlton man Perry lacks in size he more than makes up
for it in quality and determination.
With just two minutes left on the clock the visitors were
unlucky not to be awarded a penalty when substitute Junichi Inamoto, who had
only been on the pitch a minute, appeared to bring down City midfielder
Welsh inside the the hosts' penalty area.
Hull
furiously appealed for a penalty, but luckily for Inamoto and
Albion,
referee Lee Probert waved away all appeals for a spot-kick.
It was a decision that infuriated one Tigers’ fan to the extent of invading
the pitch in an attempt to confront referee Probert. Luckily the moron was
stopped by one of his team’s own players.
With
Hull’s
minds perhaps elsewhere after the penalty shout Albion grabbed a late second
with a perfectly worked counter-attack, Hartson grabbing his second after
good work from Ellington and Nigel Quashie.
The Hawthorns suddenly had a new hero. After suffering the
hopeless Campbell, the disinterested Earnshaw and the supremely gifted but
ineffective Kanu last season, Baggies’ fans finally have a striker that can
lead the line, score goals and instill fear into opposition defences - long
may it continue.
All in all it was a good day for Bryan Robson’s men, the
performance during the first twenty minutes was easily the best spell of
attacking football produced by an
Albion team for over two years. If, and it is a big if, they can
produce football like that on a consistent basis then Premiership here we
come… again…
MAN OF THE MATCH: Chris
Perry
PLAYER RATINGS OUT OF TEN
Zuberbuhler
4 - Not the most convincing
debut. Looked unsure with
crosses into the box and was at the centre of a couple of defensive
mix-ups. On the plus side his kicking was solid.
Watson 5 - Sloppy
at times.
SUBS:
REF
WATCH
Lee Probert 7 - Kept the game flowing and was
fair to both sides although angered the visitors after turning down late
penalty appeal.
FAN
WATCH hullcityafc.net baggies.com wbaunofficial.com Sporting Life
Bryan Robson: "In the first 30 minutes, I thought we were fantastic. I enjoy it when my players play like that. Some of the football Jonathan Greening and Zoltan Gera showed, with some of the other players joining in, was great. On another day the chances we created will go in. "I was very pleased with that but the start to the second half wasn't very good. We scored against the run of play, although it was nice to get in front. But we should have been able to control the game better than we did with the experience and class of player we've got. I feel we were a bit lazy at the start of the second half and full credit to Hull for making it difficult for us right until the end. "The second goal was a little bit unjust for them but as far as we're concerned, considering the pressure was on because we were at home, we played some real good stuff and it's the result that matters. "I've seen the penalty incident on the video. The clash happened because Ina didn't see the player come round the back of him. When he went to hook the ball clear their legs got tangled. I've seen them given but I think we deserve a fair few penalty decisions to go our way for a change. Because of the way we played in the first half hour, I think it would have been unjust if we had not taken all three points. (On debutant John Hartson) "I'm sure our fans are going to take to John. He leads the line well and is a clever footballer. Harts has got a lot more ability than people give him credit for. "At this club, we've had a tradition of great strikers like Jeff Astle and Cyrille Regis. Hopefully, the Albion fans will see another real good centre-forward in John." Source: wba.co.uk
Phil Parkinson: "It was the clearest-cut penalty I have seen in a long while. It's a penalty and the lad's got to be sent off because all John Welsh had to do is sidefoot the ball into the net. "The lads are disappointed not to have got anything from the game but I think it's all positive today. We've seen all the Championship sides in the pre-season and West Brom are the best. We've come here and we've matched them. "It was backs-to-the-wall stuff (in the opening 20 minutes) but there was a great commitment from the lads to keep the ball out of the net, making blocks, putting their bodies in the way in front of goal. "In the second half we set out to take the game to them and that's it was we did. We had good chances before West Brom scored but couldn't take them." Source: Sporting Life
John Hartson, Chris Perry and Pascal Zuberbuhler all make their Albion league debuts. Hartson scored his first league goals for the club, the 200th and 201st of his professional career. Former Welsh international Hartson's goals are the first scored by an Albion debutant since Trevor Benjamin notched against Barnsley at The Hawthorns in March 2002.
The win is Albion's first opening day victory for nine years, the last one
came against Tranmere Rovers at The Hawthorns in August 1997. |
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