West Bromwich Albion 3 - Luton Town 2

Date:	Friday 12th January 2007
Competition:	Coca-Cola Championship
WBA: 6.1	Hoult 6.3, Watson 4.8, Davies 5.6 (Hodgkiss, 17 6.0), Clement 5.5, Robinson 5.6, Kamara 4.9 (Koren, 73 5.5), Chaplow 6.0, Greening 5.3, Koumas 7.3, Hartson 6.1 (Gera, 73 5.6), Phillips 7.7 Unused subs: Zuberbuhler, Carter Manager: Tony Mowbray 6.5
Luton: 5.8
Scorers:	Koumas (45), Phillips (87, 90)
Referee:	Jon Moss (West Yorkshire) 6.4
Attendance:	19,927 Home Fans 6.1 Away Fans 3.9

Dave Watkin:

Albion recorded a dramatic victory in front of the cameras against Luton Town at The Hawthorns. The Baggies took the lead in first half stoppage time, but the visitors scored twice after the break and looked likely to snatch a rare away victory, before we struck with two late goals, the second two minutes into second half stoppage time.

Russell Hoult was sound without being spectacular. Jared Hodgkiss was my pick of the back four with a neat and tidy performance. In midfield Jason Koumas was again a massive influence on the game, but both Kamara and his replacement Gera failed to shine. With Ellington nowhere to be seen, it was left to Kevin Phillips to give a master class in finishing, as he won the game for Albion in those final minutes. It?s a difficult choice between Koumas and Phillips for man-of-the-match.

This was a hard fought victory, in a game that at one stage we all feared had been lost. It should be a big boost to morale that we were able to snatch a win from the jaws of defeat. I hope that the search for new talent will intensify rather than diminish, as we look to strengthen for a serious push for promotion.

Thought for the day: How often have you been annoyed when someone pushes past you a few minutes before half time to be first in the queue for Bovril. Just as irritating is when that same person leaves early, rather than wait for the final whistle. Well tonight any such individuals (and there were many) missed all our goals and one of the most exciting finishes for years. All together now ? what a pity ?.. never mind.

TEAM NEWS

The starting eleven showed only one change. With Paul McShane suspended and Martin Albrechtsen unfit, Steve Watson returned to the side at right back.

HIGHLIGHTS

Albion made a positive start and could have taken an early lead. Kevin Phillips was fouled on the edge of the box, but when the ball fell for Richard Chaplow the referee waved play on and the midfielder struck a fierce shot which rebounded to safety off the left hand post.

Albion were enjoying more of the possession but on the break Luton were looking dangerous. Their trademark move appeared to be a race to the touchline followed by a low cross. One such attack ended with a shot wide of the target, whilst from a second the ball crept agonisingly across the six yard box and past a post, with nobody managing to get a touch. In between these two incidents Curtis Davies was forced to retire hurt, Jared Hodgkiss coming on, with Watson switching inside.

The half seemed likely to end goalless until a piece of pure magic from JASON KOUMAS in the 1st minute of stoppage time. Faced with two defenders he cut between them and then curled the ball expertly around a third challenger and into the far bottom right corner of the net. A brilliant goal.

Albion dominated the opening quarter-of-an-hour of the second period, so it was a surprise when Luton scored a very good 60th minute equaliser. KEANE cut-in from the right and exchanged a one-two with Robinson, before firing left footed past Hoult into the bottom corner. Two minutes later, despite stumbling, John Hartson prodded home a cross from Chaplow only to see his effort disallowed for offside (I?m told that TV replays show that the goal should have stood). Things were worse for the Baggies in the 70th minute, when a lack of understanding in the makeshift central defensive partnership, allowed FEENEY acres of space to tap home a short cross from substitute Boyd. The goal inspired a double Albion substitution, Zoltan Gera for Hartson and Robert Koren for Kamara.

A determined Albion side struck in the 88th minute in controversial circumstances. A Luton player tried to halt an Albion attack by feigning injury but Paul Robinson, encouraged by the crowd, flung in a cross which Zoltan Gera did well to head down to KEVIN PHILLIPS. The diminutive striker was faced with no less than five defenders, but he resisted their tackles, before firing left footed into the bottom corner. In the 2nd of four added minutes, the Baggies snatched a dramatic winner. Jared Hodgkiss darted down the right and was chopped down a foot outside the box. Jason Koumas floated in a perfect free kick and KEVIN PHILLIPS rose above the defenders to head a heart stopping winner.

ALBION FORMRATE: GOOD IN PARTS

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: KEVIN PHILLIPS

STATISTICS (against Luton Town)

The Baggies have an extraordinarily good home record against The Hatters. Tonight?s victory means that in 19 league games we?ve won 14 and drawn 2 and to add to that, on home soil in cup competitions we?ve picked up 3 victories out of 3. Our biggest win was 4-0 in September 1984, when Steve Hunt, Cyrille Regis, Nicky Cross and Garry Thompson scored.

FINALLY: The three points move Albion up one place to 4th in the Championship.

Phil:

Could have been a lot worse, hopefully we can get maximum points at Leeds. I am glad we are playing them. I think we have enough cover for that match to win it. The new guy looks quite inventive and I would not be surprised if he starts because of Koumas suspension. As for the centre forwards position it's a bit harder to pick, but at the moment we still have Ellington. If he is still hanging around he would have to be first choice. If not we do need a bit of size and speed up front so Kamara might sit on Phillips shoulder. But who takes his place on the wing?

Defencively with a bit of luck Action man will be back at right back, or Mcshane, he played well there last game. Watson is a liability with his lack of pace, but looking at Lutons 2nd goal who was out of position? All of them? I felt sorry for Hodgekiss, he was left trying to pick up two Luton players. I have noticed though over the past few years that sometimes Clement is nowhere to be seen when the opposition score, although this time it looked like Watson may have been to blame. Lucky to get away with this. Yes we need someone to shore up the midfield. I would prefer Mcshane to Clement in central defence. I would prefer my dad to Watson he is so past his prime (Watson and me dad). I really don't think he can cut the mustard in this league far to slow and gets skinned every time.

Great to watch them on telly for a change.

Charles Allen:

Just got in from San Jose. A very poor attendance at the Britannia Arms, with most of the conversation in the pub focusing on the team "down the road" and a certain Mr. Beckham.

Happy at 1/2 time with Koumas class only thing really to chear about. Dire defending in the 2nd half and just happy that Phillips was one of the few to turn up and earn his pay.

Hoult - reasonable game, hard to see him at fault for the goals. No worse than Kiely (still a rumoured target?) and did well considering that there wasn't much defense in front of him (7/10)
Watson - SLOW, REALLY SLOW. Poor game, poor positioning and we were fortunate we only kept it to 2 when he moved inside (3/10)
Robinson - usual gaffes, usual effort, no foul for our 2nd goal & all credit to him to keep on playing (5/10)
Clement - ups and downs. Like all defense shocking for the 2 Luton goals, but decent distribution rather than long, hopeful punts upfield (6/10)
Davies - too short a time on the field, worrying injury
Hodgkiss - tried hard, no help from his more experienced colleagues, only man at the back with a turn of pace. Certainly better than Watson at RB and no worse than Alby (6/10)
Jesus - hot and cold, good and bad... very little tenacity in tackling, but some decent distribution. Tried hard, but we need someone more forceful in this role (6/10)
Chaplow - pick of the midfield for me, made mistakes, but never hid. Tried hard and felt he was often the only midfielder tackling. Unfortunate his early effort hit the post (7/10)
Koumas - only one looked like creating something 1st half. Brilliant goal, faded in the 2nd (7/10)
Kamara - looked like he wanted to be elsewhere. Poor control, nice turn of pace, but often forgot the ball. Very below par performance (upset he's not being allowed to leave?) (5/10)
Hartson - slow, effort o.k., his goal looked fine to me. Won a fair bit in the air and distribution o.k. Just feel that he's past it, although would be EXTREMELY intregued to see who would win over 100 metres, Hartson or Watson... (6/10)
Phillips - MOM for me. never stopped running and trying. He wanted to win and is a great example to younger forwards in the game. i wouldn't mind seeing Nicholson recalled for a stint alongside KP (9/10)
Koren - tried hard, not really in it as a forward. Decent touch, though should forget about the diving (6/10)
Gera - was he even bothered? This was a pretty inept few minutes from someone who looked like he wanted to be elsewhere (4/10)

All in all a relief. With 10 minutes left and 2-1 down I was ready for the day to take a nosedive. Now I am much more bouyant. Don't think Vine would've been our saviour, but do feel that if these 2 Hibs lads are decent ball winners and workers that we could really use them.

Still hoping to see points taken from the Balooze for tomorrow.

Herts Baggie:

I don't normally post any reports and no doubt many others will have seen the game on TV tonight. But having not seen Albion since the defeat at Roots Hall on New Year's Day I feared the worst when we went 2-1 down. On top of that, I was surprised when Hartson was substituted as he had, until that point in the game done everything that was asked of him. He held up play well and set up many good attackng moves. I don't think he gave the ball away once. He even scored what looked to me like a perfectly good goal, only for it to be disallowed by the linesman.

A few weaknesses still though, particularly in defence. We badly missed Curtis Davies when he was subbed, but fortunately the news appears to be that he has not broken anything.

Ratings:-

Hoult 7 - some good saves, but showed signs of age in his lack of athleticism for Luton's first goal
Hodgkiss 5 - tried hard but got pulled out of position too often, although he should get credit for winning the free kick that led to the winner.
Watson 5 - was a bit reckless in leaving his man in the build up to Luton's 2nd.
Davies 6 - looked comfortable
Clement 6 - assured
Robinson 6 - overlapped well
Greening 5 - worked hard, but not playing his natural game as he had to play as a sort of holding midfielder; why don't we try Watson in that role when we are back to full strength in defence?
Koumas 7 - fabulous ink up play with Phillips and Hartson in the first half and a great goal, but faded in the 2nd half, despite switching flanks twice
Kamara 5 - not at his best
Chaplow 5 - great effort on goal in first few minutes that was only deflected wide by a Luton arm(?)
Koren 5 - looked promising but tried to shoot when pass out to right flank looked the better option
Gera 6 - lacklustre recently but persevered to get the ball into KP for the equaliser
Phillips 8 - 2 great goals; how he scored the equaliser when he had 6 defenders around him, plus goalie, I'll never know; the winner was top class too, but he did miss an open goal from Hartson flick on early in 2nd half
Hartson 9 - played a great game allowing our attacking midfield to play off him beautifully. Had a perfectly good goal disallowed by a lino obviously born in Bedfordshire.
Ref 9 - seemed to be spot on and I will blame his linesman for the disallowance. Don't see what all the fuss was about re the supposed foul before our equaliser and I think the ref got it right.
Mowbray 9 - we controlled this match particularly in the 2nd half. I wondered what on earth he was doing when he took off two strikers and replaced with two (albeit attacking) midfielders, but it worked, so I'm happy.

Chris (Another London Baggie):

Couldn't make the game tonight - had to make do with Sky. What an a amazing win - really thought we'd lost it. Credit to the lads for keeping going right to the end - its wins like this that will get us promoted at the end of the season. Luton looked a good side - much more pace and cutting edge than we had. Surprised to see them where they are in the table.

Still worried about half the team. Hartson is definitely fitter but for all his neat flicks and physical presence, he just doesn't do enough for me. More of an impact player than starting line up. Chaplow and Greening - both did OK but we are crying out for a ball winning, hard tackling midfield general. Someone who can boss the game - a leader. Watson - slowest player in the Championship exposed us time after time at the back. Hodgkiss - not bad skills for a youngster but again lacks pace. Gera did a bit of battling - won the headers for Philips first goal - but his heart just doesn't look in it and is half the player he was. A few neat touches from Koren - but he needs a run to decide whether he's quality or not.

Listened to Meggo on Sky - he looked as miserable as sin during the interview. Kept emphasising our defensive inadequacies, won't win Championships with defending like that, can't give away two goals every game etc etc. Yes but at least we are scoring goals - something we will need to do if we ever do get back to the Premiership and something we couldn't do when he was in charge.

Thank god for Koumas (oh yeah..Meggo had a go at him as well "admirable skills but needs to do more work etc etc - heard it before somewhere). Not his best game by a long chalk, but he's real start quality. Thought Philips has a great game tonight - apart from the goals he really put himself about and looked sharp. Hoult looked solid between the sticks. Clem did OK at the back - I think he'll be a good partner for Davies or Macca. What has happened to Perry - is he injured?

I think Melton is taking us in the right direction - just needs to bolster the midfield with a solid grafter who can pass, inject more pace into the back-line (need cover for Albie and Davies) and find another striker (if Duke is on his way out) to pair with Phillips. Reckon we will finish in the play-offs this year - possibility of sneaking into the top two.

John Branson:

Not a great performance but a great game, all our faults were evident & we still have a way to go. To be fair the poor sticky pitch did not suit our style,but we were exposed when Davies was injured & Watson joined Clem in the centre, Jared Hodgkiss came on as right back. Our defence was shocking Clem keeps going walkabouts & Watson is too slow in thought & deed, Hoult is improving but the young kid shows promise, Robinson had a poor game.

The midfield was OK in parts but did not gel together, Chaplow started & did some good work, Koumas seemed to have trouble with the pitch & always had two men on him but still managed to score a sublime goal, Greening fitted in & out of the game as is his wont, Kamara had a shocker he was subbed by Gera who did OK but I was impressed by Koren who seemed well up to it. Phillips scored the two match winning goals & was sharp throughout Hartson was slow but effective & lasted his usual 70 mins.

A win is a win but let us not get carried away the defence needs shoring up or promotion will be difficult.

Marks

Hoult 7 & Did fine but he is now a little too slow for a top class goalie.
Watson 4 Not sharp enough & because of this dives in too much, to leave us exposed.
Davies 6 Did OK before going off.
Clemence 5 Does some good things but the looses position & concentration to get us in trouble.
Robinson 5 Had a poor game for me
Kamara 3 Had a stinker deservedly subbed.
Chaplow 6 Getting there but seems out of touch with the others at times.
Greening 6 As usual for me does some good things but does not stamp his authority on the game.
Koumas 7 Not as effective as usual but still our best midfielder.
Phillips 8 The match winner.
Hartson 6 As per usual.

Subs

Hodgkiss. 6 Did a sound job.
Gera 6 Improved the shape.
Koren 7 Impressed me.

Mowbrey 7 Got the subs right which turned the game.

topdoc911:

great spirit and fight back, great game. a mark of champions elect. i think we need to to get rid of a few light weight individuals who r the weak links though. these r - chaplow - 1.5m, wotson - free, perry - free, carter - 1.5m and zubo - free. sell ellington for 4 million (yes the board r right to ask for this amount even though ellington isnt worth 1 million, this is purely because its going to cost 4 million to get a quality striker in now). i think if we cant get that striker then dont sell this plonker but use him and kick his f****** arse in and then send him back packing to wigan, (who will then be a fizzy drink championship team by then in the summer, when were going to be premier).

hopfefully all these sales will generate about 8 million to spend on QUALITY - thats 3 players . one striker , one strong ball wining midfielder, and a goaley and a quality young and up coming defender.

Lamp Baggie:

To have over 60% of the game & to just manage to scrape a win means we have serious problems - as soon as we went behind the heads went down - we looked dead & buried as Luton missed a chance to make it 3-1 only KP's deadly finish - how did he manage it - he has missed numerous easier chances - saved us and then an excellent winner.

For me only JK was a serious threat as usual another wonder goal but not on the ball enough - I thought he was going to be moved to the middle. At times we were in total control but just didn't have enough quality to finish Luton off.

IMO not sure why BFJ is in team because in no way do we play to his aerial power - what is our game plan? - Luton sat back & hit us on the break & with no pace we were exposed a number of times.

As i have stated before the standard is not great in this league but you have to battle for your points and we just haven't got those players - this team went down with a wimper & if we do go up we will still not be good enough - so come on Peace lets get the prima donnas out & some hungry quality young players in ASAP - for me too many players just going through the motions no passion no bottle as is evident as soon as we go away.

?3M for the Duke I'd bite their hand off.

Koren too early to say but looks too light weight - is he a replacement for Gera?

The number of short passes that went astray was embarrassing & Kamara & Greening's corner what a fecking disgrace.

As for our strength in depth not too much cover at the back.

Plus point is this the first time we've been losing & then won

Over to you Melton!!!

Jeanette Austin:

Just a thought following Dave Watins thought for the day comment about the irritating people who seem to be unable to remain in their seat until the whistle goes. Where does Dave sit in the ground? I sit in the East Stand, row UU. I wondered if he sits anywhere near me after i had a real set too with a guy who was sittin on my row. Always came in late and went early - really drove me wild. Since the row he has't been back - I presume he is now annoying some other poor fans!!

COUCHCRITIC:

Ok,so we won. But again we looked bloody awful and hardly a Premiership side in waiting! Mowbray has done litle to impress me so far and the team looks no better than under Robson (and that was dire). Far too lightweight, with only 3 quality players in the side. Gera, Hartson, Clement and Watson must all be replaced. We desperately need an "Earnie" up front to support Phillips (Hartson reminds me of a fatter and even slower version of Horsfield, lumbering and crude). We will never hold on to Koumas at this rate.

leedsbaggie:

watched the luton game on tv. cant believe we can play so bad and end up with 3 points but then again thats what promotion chasing teams do. Next week for me is the second biggest game of the season (next to the dingles), Leeds away. Have lived in exile in leeds for the past 20 years it is vitally important im able to have the bragging rites when i go to work.

The guy phil who thinks we have enough cover to win at elland road is either optomistic or a fool. No koumas, hartson, he wont play the duke, davies, who knows unless he gets some fresh blood in ths week i feel im going to be in for a week of stick at work.

And just for the record Glynnis i do hope Leeds are relegated to the third tier of English football i have never forgotten the stick they gave me after that fateful day at Twerton Park all those years ago.

Highbury Baggie:

This Baggies team will be the death of me. Aimless first half - classy JK goal on halftime - power play for the first 10 minutes after the break and threatening to overwhelm Luton, then for 20 minutes we look like we'd concede with every Luton break. Where is the midfield? Where is the defence? Where is the goalkeeper? We were playing Luton, repeat, Luton, not Arsenal. What would the Gooners have done to us on Friday night? Our midfield and defensive frailty really is a worry, not to mention our inability to capitalise at corners and free kicks, but despite all this we find ourselves up a place in 4th and only seven points off top place...

So what next? All our remaining away games are against teams in the bottom half of the table and just about all our home games are against teams in the top half, so on paper we could just squeeze a top two finish. If we don't and of course the odds are against this, we'll be crucified in a play-off situation, unless, unless, unless - this new midfielder pulls a rabbit out of his hat (he's already demonstrated good diving skills) and the defence play out of their skins.

C'mon you Baggies, dream on