| West Brom | Middlesbrough | ||
| Rodriguez Gayle |
42′ 63′ |
Saville Assombalonga |
17′ 75′, 83′ |
| Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
67% 19 6 9 6 |
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
33% 14 5 1 21 |
Britt brace throttles Throstles
Today saw the first return of TP to his former stomping ground at the Hawthorns where his departure at the time was greeted with relief from hordes of Baggies fans fed up of struggling and mind numbingly boring football apparently. He brought his Boro side down this afternoon with similar complaints ringing in his ears from the Riverside although in fairness TP’s Boro is a Jekyll and Hyde side when it comes to home form versus their away form. Buoyed by new signings as the window fell shut on Thursday night Darren Moore had a few more options to play with including one allegedly coveted by TP in Jacob Murphy.
This was a six pointer for promotion regardless of it only being early February. Despite all the headlines over the new Baggies arrivals and the relative stoicism surrounding Boro’s inactivity the Birmingham side had lost Harvey Barnes who was recalled by his parent Club Leicester. Those new signings arrived late on Thursday which only allowed a day to familiarise themselves with their new surroundings. The game pitted the Championship’s most swashbuckling attack against the Championship’s meanest defence. The styles could hardly be in greater contrast with both Managers desperate to come out on top if only for old times’ sake, the Sorcerer versus the Sorcerer’s apprentice.
TP seemingly had a fully fit squad to choose from after the Newport Flu epidemic minus the obvious losses of Leadbitter and Batth while Darren Moore had Jake Livermore available after a four game suspension. Ex Boro lad James Morrison and winger Matt Phillips would likely miss out for the Baggies with their ankle injuries.
Two of Albion’s new loanee’s Murphy and Montero made the Baggies bench with Moore making eight changes from his Cup selection against Brighton last weekend. TP went with JOM anchoring the midfield and Hugill getting the nod as this week’s lone striker. Wing, Besic and Saville were the other midfielders. Shotton and Friend were providing the width with Fry, Ayala and Flint the defensive trio.
In a sunny but positively Baltic afternoon West Brom got things underway. The Baggies were happy to retain possession and play the ball around in their own half tempting Boro to play a little further up than perhaps TP would have wanted. The tactical mind games had started already with just a few minutes gone. A quick break from the Home side saw Randolph forced into a great save from Barry towards the bottom corner of his net. A Shotton throw on five minutes was launched near post into the West Brom box but it was cleared and when they broke up the pitch Saville was alert to break up the danger.
Ref Tim Robinson penalised Hugill seemingly reacting to the home fans requests much to the Hammer loanee’s annoyance. Moments earlier the Smethwick End had serenaded their former boss with “Tony Pulis, he’ll send you to sleep”. West Brom were now enjoying a passage of good possession pushing up the pitch and bettering our midfield. A counter attack down our right fell to Besic but after a touch to many to control it he blasted it well over. A Boro break this time started by Wing to Besic led to Friend being adjudged offside much to George’s frustration at the ball being released late to him by the Bosnian.
West Brom had been dominant in the opening quarter hour in terms of having the most of the ball but Boro were breaking and causing problems. Against the run of play an inexcusable sloppy give away from West Brom keeper Sam Johnstone via a weak pass to Gareth Barry gifted the alert Saville with an opportunity too generous to turn down. George “S” politely intercepted and despatched the ball left footed into the bottom corner of Johnstone’s net almost reminiscent of Bamford. Seconds after the restart Dani Ayala then cheekily tried his luck with a speculative effort; confidence was rising with those in Red Shirts to a backdrop of the Home fans grumbling having now been rudely awoken from their slumber by Pulis’s Boro.
Needing to get something back from the game West Brom’s wobble meant that Boro were now getting a bit more joy in the middle with Wing giving Barry no mercy and Saville and Besic looking lively. Mikel behind them looked measured, composed and deliberate. The Baggies were getting agitated, losing possession in the process with Boro looking good value so far. A poignant tribute in the form of “only one Luke Jobson” reverberated from the away end on the 22nd minute to bring a stark reality of just how important this game really wasn’t.
The home fans meanwhile were getting more and more worked up and screaming at Referee Robinson every time a tackle went in and after a series of howling protests against Saville and then Hugill eventually Saville was justifiably booked for clattering into Barry. Besic had been active but had been frustrating as much as he had been lively with some of his decision making suspect (or careless) but he did at least look a threat of some sort and of course West Brom would not have been as familiar with his eccentricities as much as the travelling army.
A free kick awarded to Boro saw Saville deliver it into the Baggie box as the Boro Giants moved up from the back but Ayala headed it the wrong way and ended with Friend getting a stern lecture for having a handful of a Navy blue and White striped piece of fabric. Immediately afterwards West Brom broke and a miss hit Rakeem Harper shot was turned in by Rodriquez at the far post to level things. As the game restarted Jordan Hugill went down theatrically under pressure from Dawson claiming a penalty much to the angst of the home fans who burst into a chorus describing their opinion of Tony Pulis’s style of football which was far from complimentary. The rest of the half was interspersed with a series of “Hoooof” bellowed out every time Boro went forward.
A miss hit Wing free kick caused a bit of consternation in the Baggie box and as it was cleared it came back again from Shotton to be met by Flint but as has been the case for most of the season his finishing was poor and the score line remained 1-1. There were now two added minutes shown on the fourth Officials board as the first half petered out. The opening stages of the half had saw West Brom dominate but apart from Barry’s effort and a well wide Robson-Kanu overhead kick never really looked dangerous. After Saville’s goal Boro looked composed, sitting deep and breaking. The only disappointment in that first half showing was to concede so close to the half time whistle especially when we had just had a great set piece opportunity ourselves to double the advantage but allowed the Baggies back in and cause for renewed optimism.
Half time entertainment was provided by the Baggie Boiler who pranced around in a very strange and disconcerting manner in an effort to sell central heating systems which on the day would have been welcomed by many. No changes from either side as Boro commenced second half proceedings. An early booking for Lewis Wing was the main event of the opening exchanges as TP will have presumably asked for more of the same in the second half. An attack by Boro was ridiculously hauled back by the Ref to award a free Kick to us after Wing was well on his way. A very poor decision by the official but anyway Ayala went up field but perhaps mindful of what had happened at the end of the first half Flint stayed back which was just a as well as West Brom cleared, broke and a Holgate shot went out for a corner after a timely save by Randolph.
A dangerous free kick was awarded for what looked like a harmless challenge as the Ref seemed to be swayed by home advantage. Dwight Gayle took charge of it but it ricocheted off the Boro wall which stood strong despite three interlopers trying to bridge it. The ball came back in needing another block as Rakeem hit his effort into the ground and out for a goal kick. Pulis had rightly seen enough of those opening moments as Howson was readied meanwhile Rodriquez was causing us problems which needed Randolph to again come to our rescue. Besic was then dispossessed then Friend repeated the same offence and as the shrapnel and smoke was clearing Howson was ready and on the touchline as Besic’s number was up.
The Bosnian unfortunately still looked to have that momentary lapse in him and as the intensity was upped by West Brom he looked more of a passenger. Shotton then found himself booked for ridiculously and stupidly wasting time in a very obvious manner. Boro were now under the cosh and the Baggie attacks were becoming relentless. Boro were hanging on blocking valiantly as the pressure mounted with Randolph permanently engaged as Sam Johnstone at the other end was a virtual spectator.
Hegazi hit an effort that was collected by Randolph as West Brom now had their centre backs trying to break the deadlock. So far Boro had offered very little in this half and if they didn’t mount a fight back there was an air of inevitability about when the next Baggie goal would come. A brilliant piece of play between Friend and Wing allowed George to set up Hugill but his shot went wide when a goal would have been a real Baggie balloon burster. That miss was pivotal as Dwight Gayle showed Hugill how to finish seconds later having reacted quickest to a knock down finding the corner of Randolph’s goal via a deflection off a team mate.
Assombalonga was then brought on for Dael Fry as TP went to four at the back with JOM in front and us desperately needing to get back into this contest. Our second half performance was as bad as the first half had been decent. Buzzing with the impetus provided by that Gayle Goal West Brom had their tails in the air and TP had his work cut out to rebut the comments being loudly chanted about his tactical prowess or indeed the total lack of it in the second half.
A short George Saville won corner was adjudged to have been a foul by Ayala as Howson floated a far post ball in for the Spaniard to attack. Going behind meant that Boro were now forced to take this game to West Brom in the full knowledge that they are very capable of scoring goals and plenty of them at that should we slip. In fairness Boro were now imposing themselves a little bit more but it just didn’t look joined up and very much a case of necessity rather than by design.
Since his introduction Britt had been largely anonymous, perhaps because of the novelty of having two strikers to pick out or more likely that the unfamiliar midfield diamond wasn’t working as well as envisaged at that point. To me Boro desperately needed an outlet, a threat, someone to run at the West Brom defence and Britt wasn’t that player. In the absence of Tav on the bench VLP would have been my preference. As if to rub salt in the wounds Jacob Murphy then came on for Robson-Kanu and simultaneously JOM came off for VLP to make that much needed appearance as TP changed shape once again with Wing now taking over from JOM to allow VLP to go wide.
Wing immediately set up an attack and via a Saville lob Hugill held up play feeding Britt with a dink to his right allowing Britt to come in and hit an equaliser on seventy five minutes losing three defenders in the process. As questionable as I felt TP’s substitutions and reshuffle was in an instant it paid dividends to bring things back level again. A West Brom corner then spun out of Randolph’s control going out for another Baggie corner. Gareth Barry then went off and the formidable Livermore came on to meet the corner which flew over everyone’s head with Shotton outmuscling Dawson at the far post to keep the scores level.
Boro were now looking hungry to get back in front as Howson, VLP, Hugill and Britt were all linking up well and asking questions now of the up until then unemployed Baggie defence in the second half. As if to make a point Jacob Murphy fizzed in a delicious cross that fortunately wasn’t met by anyone, then ex Boro lad Chris Brunt came on for Field with the fear of one of those rocket shots in the back of our minds. A Shotton free kick was bent into the box, half cleared by Brunt and bounced in front of Britt who swivelled inside the box and hit a left footed thunderbolt to put Boro three two up after looking down and out on the canvas just minutes earlier.
West Brom tried to get back in with a left footed cross by Brunt booted clear by Ayala as Flint assisted in the clearance with the game entering the final five minutes. TP was now literally “boinging” up and down in the Technical area screaming at his defenders to close down quicker. A Brunt cross was blocked by Shotton which broke to VLP who chased forward to feed Britt who generously played in Hugill when he perhaps should have shot himself and the opportunity ended disappointingly. West Brom were still pushing to get something and there was a definite danger of a late equaliser. Red shirts were battling bravely with Wing looking like a Terrier in front of his back line.
Incredibly the fourth official had found five minutes of added time and as Dawson met a Brunt cross Shotton again was there to clear the danger. A Shotton block then went out for a corner which led to a Brunt back post ball coming in and a series of bodies flying everywhere in the Boro box saw Aden Flint down holding his head as Randolph now saved from Dawson. A drop ball was hoofed by Shotton but West Brom picked up the loose ball and again came down the flank, crossed in by Murphy and Ayala had us all checking our undergarments as he went to ground hearts in mouth style to win a tackle then it was Randolph’s turn to uncharacteristically flap and cause more anxiety. As Randolph cleared the ball downfield six minutes added time had now been played with the Travelling Army frantically whistling. As we entered the seventh minute Referee Robinson seemingly reluctantly blew his whistle to a chorus of jeers and boos from the home fans as TP fist pumped the Boro fans in a victory that was a massive win and of course one which brought a fair dollop of personal satisfaction.
In Typical Britt style he looked languid and slow at times when he came on but then he has that incredible knack of scoring and not just once but twice. Wing was as ever magnificent, Saville had another good game, Shotton was rock solid in his duties and Friend and Ayala battled away but the scene stealer was Britt Assombalonga who has to be the MOM for launching Boro back level on points with West Brom instead of facing a six point gap. More importantly perhaps was maintaining a three point gap between us and the chasing pack of Bristol and Derby. For a neutral the game swayed and changed, twisted and turned but despite the Baggies dominance in the possession stats it was boring Tony Pulis and his sides three goals who had the widest smile. Perhaps Boro hanging on to Britt in the window was a shrewd bit of business after all for all concerned.