Saturday 2nd January 2010, FA Cup 3rd Round, Galpharm Stadium, Kick-Off 3:00pm

 

Huddersfield Town	0 - 2	Albion
	13,472	Dorrans 77
		Wood 82
0	Half-Time Score	0
52%	Possession	48%
5	Shots On Target	4
4	Shots Off Target	7
8	Corners	7
7	Fouls Against	13
4	Offsides	2
0	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0

Huddersfield Town: Smithies,  Peltier (Drinkwater 78), N Clarke, P Clarke, Skarz, Pilkington, Collins, Kay, Roberts (Robinson 85), Rhodes, Novak (T Clarke 58). Subs not used: Glennon (gk), Butler, Ainsworth, Simpson

Albion: Carson (c), Jara, Martis, Olsson, Cech, Brunt (Reid 88), Mulumbu, Dorrans, Teixeira (Koren 66), Bednar, Cox (Wood 75). Subs not used: Kiely (gk), Moore, Thomas, Samuels

Brunt (foul 45)

Referee: Kevin Wright (Cambridgeshire)
Assistant Referees: Scott Ledger (South Yorkshire), Paul Marsden (Lancashire)
Fourth Official: Mark Brown (East Yorkshire)

Away Following: 2,392

Graham Dorrans, with his third goal in six days, and the substitute Chris Wood struck within the space of five minutes in the closing stages as West Brom sent Huddersfield sliding to their first home defeat of the season. The Baggies, who also hit a post through Marek Cech, may have avoided a third-round exit for the fifth time in the past six seasons but both sides would definitely argue promotion from their respective divisions is the bigger prize this season.

Roberto Di Matteo, twice an FA Cup winner with Chelsea, made five changes to the Albion side that beat Scunthorpe 3-1 on Monday to preserve second place in the Championship, although only two of those were due to rotation. Lee Clark was able to welcome back Michael Collins into the centre of Huddersfield's midfield in what was the only change to the Town team that edged out MK Dons 1-0 to keep them firmly in the League One promotion picture.

Dorrans should have given Albion the lead after 14 minutes when he met Chris Brunt's cross from just six yards, but the Scotland international could only volley over the bar. The visitors were edging possession in the opening quarter, with the home side showing a bit too much respect. Brunt fired over the bar from 20 yards just before the half-hour mark after some well-worked play, and Huddersfield were giving away the ball far too regularly. Brunt forced a save from Alex Smithies, but the strike proved to be the only effort on target during an opening 45 minutes in which Town hardly threatened.

Yet the home side started the second half in a much more positive manner, with Antony Kay heading Anthony Pilkington's cross wide after just 59 seconds. But Albion soon proved their class again as the Slovakia international Cech turned on the edge of the area and fired a left-footed effort against a post.

Huddersfield enjoyed their closest chance just a minute later as Collins's run found Jordan Rhodes, and he squared for Gary Roberts but the midfielder could only fire at Scott Carson from eight yards out. They again went close in the 64th minute as Collins shot narrowly wide with the tie finely balanced. Roberts then struck again to force a routine save from Carson as the home side started to pose more of a threat but it was Albion who then scored in the 77th minute with a sucker punch on the break. Youssouf Mulumbu's pass found Dorrans and he slotted home from 12 yards. The tie was put beyond doubt five minutes later when the New Zealand international Wood fired home from the middle of the area following another assist by Mulumbu.

guardian.co.uk

Eddie Newton:

"We were surprised with the respect Huddersfield showed us. We prepared for a physical encounter in the first 20 minutes. We knew the Huddersfield crowd get right behind their boys and we prepared for a high octane first 15 to 20 minutes. But it didn't materialise and we looked comfortable. We got it down and passed it.

Lee Clark:

"I thought we started the game well. First 10 minutes we were pretty bright, but the next 35 I thought we showed them far too much respect and we were a little bit in awe of them; we stood off and let them dictate the pace of the game. It was more like a pre-season game for us, rather than us trying to turn it into a Cup tie.

"Second half we upped the tempo and created opportunities. Their first goal came when we were on top but it was our error and it's absolutely crazy that we keep saying the same things. We have to eradicate that. You can do as much tactical work, work with the back four and as units but if we keep making crazy decisions and we're not set-up properly on our set-play, then you will get punished and certainly by a team of the quality of West Brom.

"There are positives to take and I've said that to the players. They are disappointed and I am happy with the reaction, because they don't want anyone coming to our place and beating us. I don't want them to beat themselves up over it; I need them to come back on Monday and be positive because we have a massive game at St Mary's.

"We've competed very well in the second half and we've created opportunities and we could have taken the lead. We may have got one of the contentious in the penalty area but that's not taking anything away from West Brom.

"When you go up a level mistakes get punished and above that, it's not even a full mistake, half mistakes get punished. The fewer mistakes you make the more solid you are. The long term picture is important but we need to look at the next four or five months and make sure we get that right.

"The first substitution I made was because their deep lying midfield player, Mulumbu, who's a very good footballer, was getting on the ball and making things happen and that has a domino effect - he gets on the ball and one of my two midfield players has to go and approach him and what happens then is that Simon Cox, who likes to play as a deep lying striker, brings one of my centre-halves into territories that they're not comfortable in which is just in behind my other midfield player who's already marking someone. It's a difficult task for one of the two strikers to drop back because they are working their socks off to close the back four down, so it was nothing to do with Lee Novak's performance. Michael Collins is attack minded and likes to break into the box so I got someone around him and that was Tom Clarke, who's competitive. So, we had the two central midfield players, Michael Collins making the third, the two wide men pushing on and Jordan as the lone striker.

"The second sub was forced. Lee Peltier picked up a groin injury so I had to get Lee off and Town was the natural one at the right back position and Danny Drinkwater comes in.

"I was trying to get Theo Robinson stripped to get two strikers on and get the equaliser, but as he goes on they bang in the second."