Monday 16th March 2009, Barclays Premiership, Upton Park, Kick-Off 8.00pm

 

West Ham United	0 - 0	Albion
	30,842
0	Half-Time Score	0
52%	Possession	48%
4	Shots On Target	4
5	Shots Off Target	4
3	Corners	4
10	Fouls Against	10
6	Offsides	0
1	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0

West Ham United: Green, Neill, Tomkins, Upson (Spector 29), Ilunga, Noble (Boa Morte 82), Kovac, Parker, Nsereko (Stanislas 68), Di Michele, Sears. Subs not used: Lastuvka, Lopez, Tristan, Payne.

Nsereko 67 (foul)

Albion: Carson, Zuiverloon, Martis, Olsson, Robinson, Morrison (Teixeira 88), Koren, Dorrans, Greening, Brunt (Simpson 80), Fortune (Moore 80). Subs not used: Kiely, Hoefkens, Cech, Bednar.

 Olsson 83 (foul)

Referee:  Mark Halsey (Lancashire)
Assistant Referees: Trevor Massey (Cheshire), Phil Sharp (Hertfordshire)
Fourth Official: Lee Probert (Wiltshire)

ALBION TEAM NEWS: Jonas Olsson returns to the starting line-up after two months out with a knee injury whilst Shelton Martis makes his first Premier League appearance for the Baggies. Abdoulaye Meite and Ryan Donk are the men to make way. Graham Dorrans makes his first league start with Borja Valero left out of the squad altogether. Albion start with five in midfield which leaves Marc-Antoine Fortune up front on his own. Roman Bednar returns on the bench after missing the last two games with a back problem.

WEST HAM UNITED TEAM NEWS: The absence of Carlton Cole, suspended after a red card against Wigan, allows Freddie Sears to start. Jack Collison and Valon Behrami (both knee) are out however Luis Boa-Morte and Deigo Tristan do return from injury. The match comes too early for Kieron Dyer who has just returned to training whilst Dean Ashton, James Collins and former Baggie Danny Gabbidon are all also missing.   

FIRST CLEAN SHEET IN NINE FAILS TO REAP THREE POINTS FOR THE BAGGIES

Sam Bradley

Albion travelled to Upton Park with hopes of not only picking up their second win on the road this season but also reigniting the ‘Great Escape’ part 2. However, a game of plenty chances ended goalless with Albion perhaps having the best of play, James Morrison, Jonathan Greening and Shelton Martis all missing good opportunities for the Baggies.

The game wasn’t exactly a humdinger of an affair, infact it was the complete opposite of what Albion fans have become accustomed to, although with most of the action in recent games occurring in the Albion penalty box, the travelling fans and those watching on TV were probably more concerned with picking up points than wanting excitement.

A Mark Noble shot after neat play by Scott Parker from a free kick which Albion half cleared started the proceedings. The first chance for the visitors arrived when Marc-Antoine Fortune was played in by captain Greening but the striker chose to go it alone instead of playing in the much better placed Chris Brunt. Albion were then apparently robbed of a penalty with Paul Robinson going down after Lucas Neill made contact with him in the area. Robinson protested vigorously with the ref but to no avail. The game was end to end although both teams were guilty of producing sloppy play. Albion almost took advantage of the Hammers’ carelessness when Morrison was allowed to travel the length of the Hammers’ half and produced a shot which Robert Green was equal to. The home side were dealt a blow on the 29 minutes when Matthew Upson had to leave the field of play due to injury which seemed to be caused by overstretching. United created a further two chances before half time, both which fell to Freddie Sears and both of which were blocked by the steady Martis.

Half-Time

Straight after the re-start, Sears was at the heart of the action again, only to see his good work down the left flank blasted over by his strike partner David Di Michele. Ten minutes into the second half the main talking point of the game occurred with both Albion centre backs at the core of the incident. Brunt, who was showing signs in the game of Mowbray’s philosophy with a wide array of passing, started the move after neat work in the left corner. A cross was delivered and was headed against the crossbar by Martis and bounced to safety. The near-miss was overshadowed by Jonas Olsson’s aerial challenge which connected with Robert Green in the West Ham goal. There was talk after the game of Olsson looking at the keeper before jumping and showing intent to cause injury but replays suggested that was not the case and the challenge was far from deliberate.

West Ham’s £9million striker Savio Nsereko, who started on the left of midfield for the Hammers, created a chance after a direct run through midfield, however his finish wasn’t what you would expect from a player with his price tag. Graham Dorrans, the Scot who was making his first Premier League start, was impressive throughout and was involved in a passage of play which saw the ball fall to Robert Koren who had his shot deflected wide. Another opportunity created by the midfield duo of Dorrans and Morrison provided an opening for Greening but the chance was wasted after he took too long waiting for Green to go to ground. A chance for West Ham was the only significant action left in the match but Di Michele couldn’t manage to direct Herita Ilunga’s cross sufficiently and inevitably saw the chance go begging.

AFTERTHOUGHTS

Positives from the game were the defence, especially Martis and Olsson who looked solid at the back. Martis will surely keep his place in the team for Saturday’s game against Bolton and hopefully Olsson will command the defence in future games to the same degree as he did against the Hammers. The strikers really need to start taking chances at the other end though but if we can start scoring the team will have a decent chance of survival especially with home games against Stoke, Bolton, Sunderland and Wigan to come.

Tony Mowbray’s comments after the game with regards to a ‘blanket’ hinted that he feels we haven’t got the ability to keep clean sheets and score goals in the same game. If this is the case then perhaps we can’t begrudge Mowbray for neglecting the defence for the sake of the forwards at times this season.

Currently seven points from safety it really doesn’t look good at the moment but the point picked up in East London could turn into an important one if it becomes a platform for successive wins at home.

ALBION MAN OF THE MATCH: Shelton Martis
ARSENAL MAN OF THE MATCH: Scott Parker

PLAYER RATINGS OUT OF TEN

ALBION: Carson (7), Zuiverloon (6), Olsson (8), Martis (8), Robinson (8), Brunt (7), Koren (7), Dorrans (7), Morrison (6), Greening (7), Fortune (7) Subs: Simpson (6), Moore (6), Teixeira (6)

WEST HAM UNITED: Green (7), Neill (7), Tomkins (7), Upson (7), Ilunga (6), Noble (5), Kovac (6), Parker (7), Nsereko (5), Di Michele (5), Sears (6). Subs: Spector (5), Stanislas (6), Boa Morte (6) 

REF WATCH

Mark Halsey - Everything as standard although missed a possible penalty against Paul Robinson.

Birmingham Mail: “West Brom came within inches of a victory at Upton Park that would have breathed life into their Barclays Premier League survival fight.”

kumb.com: “The main starting line-up is not too bad but the quality of the rest of the squad is just not good enough. On this form we have no chance of holding onto 7th place and a few away days to remote European towns and cities”

Tony Mowbray: "It was there for us to win tonight - I don't think West Ham were 100% at it.

"We had good opportunities to win the game. James Morrison missed one and Jonathan Greening clipped his shot over the bar.

"We find it hard to keep clean sheets but we did that but unfortunately we didn't do it at the other end."

Gianfranco Zola: "We missed a few important players and West Brom played well.

"West Brom had very good chances and they could have gone in front, which is why I'm saying this was a very good point for our team."