West Bromwich Albion 3 City 0
This match continued City’s dismal run of poor results, which started at half-time in the Coventry game. My many years of watching City should mean that I am never surprised by what happens, but I am completely baffled how a team that dominated so completely in the first half of that game have fallen to pieces since.
On paper this match was a nailed-on win for West Brom, who are looking certain to get one of the automatic promotion places after Forest have fallen away in recent matches, but we all know that where City are concerned, the form book goes out of the window. Our last visit to the Hawthorns, two years ago, saw City win 4-1 and Howard scored a hat trick. Sadly, there was little chance of that this time.
City started brightly and were the better side for much of the match but unfortunately lacked the ability to trouble the West Brom goalkeeper. They passed it round in the leisurely style we last saw at Crystal Palace after they had gone 1-0 up and I’m sure I wasn’t the only supporter to be screaming at them to play with more urgency….
You would have thought that they were two or three goals to the good rather than facing a team who have scored more goals than any other in the Championship. Needless to say, this lack of ambition was their downfall and there was no way Weale could have stopped the screamer from James Morrison that eluded his flying figure in the 38th minute.
Maybe if it had stayed like that to half-time we would have had a chance but a second from Robert Koren in the dying seconds of the half sealed our fate. Even then, you felt that if City got one back early in the second half they might have a chance of at least a point but when Howard pulled a good effort just wide of the post you sensed it would not be our day.
Again City huffed and puffed to little effect and the substitutions (Gallagher, Vaughan and Adams) made little impact. It was noticeable that Neilson was often in acres of space on the right but rarely received the ball – perhaps an indication of his team-mates lack of confidence in him?
West Brom’s third goal was just rubbing salt into the wound. A pinpoint pass left Koren in acres of space with five minutes of normal time left, and no City defenders anywhere near him. I don’t know if they thought he was offside but I wish they would play to the referee’s whistle. There was an incident in the first half when Oakley appealed for offside and it wasn’t given; he stopped playing but fortunately was not punished for it.
The main talking point for many of us was about Ian Stringer’s apparent spat with the club. He has obviously done something to upset Pearson et al, but it is all a bit of a mystery. I have often disagreed with Stringer, but you can’t fault his support – not to say bias – for the team.
My man of the match was Jack Hobbs who did a lot of mopping up at the back and couldn’t be blamed for the first two goals. This time, however, Berner did not prove the talisman he did the last time he came back from injury. Nobody had a particularly bad game but they need to play at their fullest capacity for 90 minutes and to show the fans that they are trying to win every game.
City: Weale; Neilson, Morrison, Hobbs, Berner, Oakley, A King, Wellens, Dyer, Waghorn, Howard. Subs: Logan, Brown, Adams (60 for Oakley), Kermorgant, Gallagher (46 for Waghorn), Vaughan (53 for Dyer), Spearing.
Booked: Waghorn.
West Brom: Carson; Olsson, Cech, Koren, Miller, Brunt, Dorrans, Mulumbu, Tamas, Morrison, Reid. Subs: Kiely, Mattock (76 for Olsson), Bednar (57 for Miller), Barnes, Meite (46 for Reid), Slory, Cox.
Referee: D Deadman. Attendance: 23,334.
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation