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 Saturday 9th September 2006, Coca-Cola Championship, The Hawthorns, Kick-Off 3:00pm
Albion: Pascal Zuberbuhler, Martin Albrechtsen, Paul McShane, Chris Perry, Paul Robinson, Darren Carter, Ronnie Wallwork, Nigel Quashie (c) (Richard Chaplow 86), Jonathan Greening (Jason Koumas 69), Kevin Phillips, John Hartson (Nathan Ellington 69). Subs not used: Russell Hoult (gk), Zoltan Gera
Leicester City: Paul Henderson, Darren Kenton, Patrick Kisnorbo, Patrick McCarthy, Nils-Eric Johansson, Josh Low (Richard Stearman 61), Andy Johnson, Stephen Hughes, Levi Porter (James Wesolowski 78), Matty Fryatt (Iain Hume 66), Chris O'Grady. Subs not used: Conrad Logan (gk), Gareth McAuley
Referee: Martin Atkinson (Yorkshire)
Half-Time: Albion
0-0 Leicester City
Attendance: 19,322 Conditions:
Warm with sunny spells
LEICESTER CITY
TEAM NEWS:
Foxes’ boss Rob Kelly made just one change to the side that
beat Southend United a fortnight ago with Levi Porter starting in place of
Danny Tiatto. A hard fought victory for Bryan Robson's men against a stubborn City side. In defence Paul McShane and Chris Perry forged a good partnership whilst in midfield Darren Carter produced probably his best performance for the club. Up front the John Hartson and Kevin Phillips partnership looked less than threatening and if it had not been for a fortunate own goal it would most probably have been two points dropped against one of the poorer sides in the division.
ALBION MAN OF THE MATCH: Darren Carter PLAYER RATINGS OUT OF TEN Zuberbuhler
5 - Not much to do, kicked well.
Albrechtsen 5 -
Gave us another attacking option but lost possession too easily.
SUBS: REF WATCH Martin Atkinson 4 - Whistle happy.
FAN
WATCH
wba.co.uk
Bryan Robson: "I was pretty pleased with the performance. In the first half, we defended very well and Leicester never really had any opportunities. In the second half, the players kept their patience really well. Darren Carter hit the bar twice while Kevin Phillips went clean through and missed a chance. But the players didn't get frustrated and kept trying to pass and probe. "We needed to bounce back from a bad defeat and because we didn't score earlier in the game, the lads showed good character and good footballing knowledge to try to keep passing and probing. Full credit to them because the crowd got a bit anxious after we didn't get an early goal like we did in the previous two home games. "Our aim is to try to get in that top six to have a chance of winning promotion. If we keep doing really well at The Hawthorns, that's going to give us a good base to work from. What we must now do, starting on Tuesday, is pick up points away. It's a long, hard season so we're not getting carried away. "I thought McShane and Phillips did very well. Carter was also excellent which means there is good competition for places. Even though we had a lot of possession, Leicester didn't really counter-attack and I thought McShane and Chris Perry were really solid at the back. Everyone knows the ability Koumas has got and what he has done over the last couple of weeks is work really hard in training. He wants to be a part of a squad which wins promotion and I'm delighted with his attitude. "I rested Gera today because he'd played in international games. Kamara's coming back to fitness and now Ellington is over his injury troubles, we had quite a lot of flair players on the bench who could come on and change the game." Source: wba.co.uk
Rob Kelly: "It looked like we were going to register another clean sheet, but in the end what has happened has happened. We will take it on the chin and move on. For 83 minutes I thought we matched a team who I believe will finish in the top six. We are not kidding ourselves - we didn't play as well as we know we can. It was a grind and a battle - but we have competed for 83 minutes and in the end we have been undone by an own goal. "It was a typical Championship game - scrappy at times while also being competitive. We knew that the longer we could keep it tight the more pressure West Brom would come under from their fans. But in the end we have lost to an unfortunate own goal. Darren (Kenton) had been really steady throughout the game. In fact the back four as a whole stuck at it against a team that this time last year were playing in the Premiership. "We know that we didn't play as well as we know we can play. I felt quite comfortable on the side that we wouldn't concede. The manner in which we did was just unfortunate. But we will move on. We never really had the chance to recover after that. We have now got to use the disappointment from this game as a positive. Everyone in the dressing room is very disappointed. We will have to go on to the Hull game and change that." Source: lcfc.co.uk
Kevin Phillips makes his full league debut for Albion and scores his first Albion goal.
Paul McShane makes his Albion league debut. |
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