Blackpool 2 - West Bromwich Albion 3

Dave Watkin:

Buoyant Baggies Sink Seasiders

In a memorable game at Bloomfield Road, Albion conceded first, led at half time, then in a torrid second half, survived a Blackpool comeback before netting a late winner.

Roberto Di Matteo kept an unchanged formation and team for the fifth game in a row.

Albion made a bright start, enjoying the majority of the possession, without seriously threatening the home side’s goal. So it was a huge surprise when, in the 25th minute, Blackpool took the lead. The scorer, Southern, was allowed to advance unchallenged before firing past Carson from the edge of the penalty area. The setback inspired the Baggies to play their best football of the match. In the 29th minute, Graham Dorrans clipped the ball to Chris Brunt who slid a pass through the centre to Roman Bednar. The in-form striker dummied the keeper, before stroking the ball home from a narrow angle. Just minutes later, Roman Bednar broke down the right and played a low cross which the onrushing Jerome Thomas converted with ease, only to find he had been flagged offside. The Baggies were rampant and in the 40th minute scored the goal of the game. Gonzalo Jara played a prominent part, winning the ball and feeding Chris Brunt on his inside. He carried on running down the wing, Brunt timed his pass to perfection, Jara controlled the ball immaculately and curled a cross behind the defence, where Roman Bednar was in the perfect position to tap home.

The Seasiders showed a new lease of live after the break, they were quicker to the ball and mixing long balls with short inter-passing began to threaten. Nevertheless, surprise Albion sub Andy Slory could have wrapped the game up when he ran clear and shot inches wide of the far post, when maybe a near post strike would have beaten the keeper. Ishmael Miller came on for Bednar but it was Pool who benefited, as Albion found it more difficult to retain possession in the opposition half. As we entered the final quarter-of-an-hour, Campbell fired from distance and his fierce shot clipped the top of the bar. We were hanging on before, in the 80th minute, Dobbie received the ball in space just outside the box and found the bottom corner with a shot on the turn. With the game in the balance, Albion were awarded an 83rd minute penalty. Dorrans played Ishmael Miller in one-on-one with the last defender Butler, who rather rashly brought him down. Graham Dorrans stepped up to coolly convert his fourth penalty in as many games. The match was not over. With Miller a passenger as a result of that tackle and Cech also limping, there were two really close calls. A header from Butler was headed off the line by Youssouf Mulumbu and then from a corner, Campbell headed wide, when from our angle it looked to be going in.

Albion faced with a difficult muddy narrow pitch and impressive opposition with a good home record, did very well to come away with all three points. Although Blackpool appealed for offside against our first goal, TV replays show a stationary No.3, with hand in the air, playing Bednar onside. I haven’t seen our disallowed goal again, but it looked OK to me. The penalty was pretty clear cut, the defender kicking Miller’s ankle well before any contact with the ball.

I thought it was a good team performance. There was another strong display from Roman Bednar, Chris Brunt was instrumental in both goals, and Youssouf Mulumbu relished the difficult midfield conditions.

STATISTICS

We’ve now made three visits to Bloomfield Road, at this level, in the last 35 years, winning each time. In 1975-76 we won 1-0 thanks to a Willie Johnson goal and more recently, on Tuesday 8th April 2008, two late goals by Kevin Phillips and another from Ishmael Miller, gave us a 3-1 victory. In both seasons we gained automatic promotion to the top flight; let’s hope that’s an omen. Our only other game was in 1992-93, in the third tier, when despite a 2-1 defeat, we were promoted through the play-offs!

ALBION FORMRATE: GOOD

MEN-OF-THE-MATCH: YOUSSOUF MULUMBU / ROMAN BEDNAR

Albion go back to 2nd, a point ahead of Forest on equal games and three behind Newcastle having played a game more. Our combination of goal difference and goals scored is better than anyone else in the division.

We currently have 53 points, more than at this stage in all of our recent promotion campaigns (47 in 2001-02, 51 in 2003-04 and 51 in 2007-08). We’re on target to reach 87 points, six more than in our championship season, but comparable to the two years when we finished as runners-up (89 in 2001-02 & 86 in 2003-04) when, particularly in the former, we had a stupendous late run.

Neil R:

I got back in the car relieved to get the three points after we were hanging on for the last 20 minutes or so, and fearing we'd throw it away after they equalised. Radio Lancashire played clips of all the key moments and like me they were astonished that Roman's earlier "goal" was disallowed for offside - though in fairness I thought he was well off for the equaliser.

Anyway, they thought the penalty was harsh and that the defender took the ball first - the photo on the web site appears to disprove that - but the key comment for me was "there's no disgrace in losing to West Brom because make no mistake, they're the best side I've seen in the Championship for a very, very long time". And there was me thinking that the first half was good, second mediocre and we've played better than that several times this season!