West Bromwich Albion 2 - Cardiff City 0

Date:	Tuesday 13th February 2024
Competition:	Sky Bet Championship
WBA: 6.9	(4-2-3-1) Palmer 7.0, Furlong 6.1, Kipré 8.1, Pieters 6.8, Townsend 6.5, Yokuslu 7.9, Mowatt 7.3 (Marshall, 91 6.0), Fellows 7.4 (Wallace, 67 7.2), Swift 5.8 (Chalobah, 71 6.6), Johnston 6.8 (Reach, 67 5.3), Thomas-Asante 6.2 (Weimann, 66 6.8) Unused subs: Griffiths, Ávila Gordón, Malcolm, Hall Manager: Carlos Corberán 7.3
Cardiff: 4.8	(3-4-1-2) Horvath, Phillips, Goutas, Collins, Ng, Wintle, Turnbull (Siopis, 59), Wilson-Esbrand, Colwill (Bowler, 76), Méïté (Etete, 59), Diédhiou (Ramsey, 63) Unused subs: Turner, Romeo, Ralls, Sawyers, Tanner
Scorers:	Johnston (1), Weimann (80)
Referee:	Rebecca Welch 6.7
Attendance:	23,541 Home Fans 6.9 Away Fans 6.1

Submit your ratings for this game by clicking here:

Ratings submitted so far: 12

Brendan Clegg:

Very brief thoughts on this one - the summary is that Carlos made changes to rotate the squad and was vindicated by a solid, dull and routine performance. We got a wee bit lucky owing to Cardiff's lack of quality when they were presented with chances, and ultimately despite all of our injuries we've had a very shrewd transfer window and there was enough quality on the bench to seal the victory for us.

CC brought in Pieters for Bartley keeping big Yok in the centre - a decision I reckon 90% of fans would agree with.

Elsewhere Jed was given a rest for Johnston and Swift came in for Weimann.

A lightening start saw us a goal up before the one minute mark - Fellows given chance to go one-v-one and doing so with ease before cutting back to Johnston who'd made a smart run and finished well.

I'd go as far as to say from that moment right the way up to the second goal we seemed to adopt game management. We passed it slowly to run the clock down, didn't take many risks and at times let Cardiff have the ball deep into our half.

The bright spots were Felllows and Johnston who, when we did find them, were able to go past people at will. Elsewhere I thought Yok and Kipre were very classy and dominant, and Mowatt was his busy self.

As I mentioned, Cardiff really should have punished us for getting sloppy and casual in the second half but our second goal came at the perfect time - winning the ball as the game stretched a bit, playing Wallace in quickly and he put in a superb first time cross for Weimann to steer home expertly.

Job done. Friday will be a lot harder but with Semi back and Wallace rested, it will be really interesting to see what team CC goes with.

Palmer - 6 Not much to do but very good on the ball.
Furlong - 7 Solid and consistent again.
Kipre - 8 Seemed to really enjoy it. Won everything.
Pieters - 7 Very reliable showing given his lack of minutes. I wouldn't start him next game with Semi back but just shows what a great pro he is.
Townsend - 6 Mostly good and on top but one or two frustrating decisions in their final third.
Yok - Bossed it.
Mowatt - 7 Very consistent again, linked it and kept it really well.
Fellows - 7 Looked a menacing every time he had it.
Swift - 6 Didn't get into it much but once we scored early it was more about doing a job.
Johnston - 7 Looks a really good and productive player. Surprised Celtic loaned him out from what I've seen.
BTA - 6 Did a job without stretching himself.

Chalobah - 6 Great ball for goal.
Wallace - 6 Great cross for goal
Weimann - 6 Great finish for goal
Reach - 6 Great.... er... hair? Smile? Filled in adequately.