The teams
Albion
Myhill; Zuiverloon, Meite, Ibanez, Shorey; Reid, Barnes, Dorrans, Tchoyi; Cox, Bednar.
Subs: Fortune, Carson, Olsson, Brunt, Odemwingie, Scharner, Jara.
Man City
Given; Vidal, Boyata, Mee, Cunningham; Johnson, Vieira, Ibrahim, Guidetti; Jo, SantaCruz.
Subs: Silva, Kay, Veseil, Taylor, Kompany, Milner.
It was always going to be interesting to see who was in, and who was out. With a good depth to the squad, those often-rested get a chance to shine; some would say devalued the Carling Cup competition.
Both Teams made many changes from the weekend’s outings, so let us see who is up for it!
The First Half
From the off you could be forgiven in thinking it was the first team out there. Just like the game against Brum we had wave after wave of attack on their goal after controlling the midfield. Graham Dorrans looked sharp and back to his best laying a ball off to skipper for the night Steven Reid who blasted over the bar and in to the Smethwick End.
Tchoyi made a great run down the wing with some great inter play from Shorey and Bednar, and then ran past two defenders to shoot wide of the far post. City seemed to rally at this point and had their own go at Boaz Myhill who was keen to impress, and did not disappoint.
It has to be said Shay Given was in top form and made some fine saves notably from Dorrans and Bednar. With the City threat gaining momentum, we were undone by a soft goal from Jo.
However, as we have seen so far this season, we upped our game and piled on the pressure. How it stayed one-nil is beyond me, we should have had two before the interval!
Second Half
City looked keen for a better display and forced a fine save from Myhill. The pace of the game intensified as we pressed their goal and it was well deserved when we scored from a rejuvenated Zuiverloon with a fine lay-off from Bednar. He picked the spot and let fly; we were buzzing with the fans rallying the Baggies, and it worked!
Bednar was again in the thick of the action with a one-two with Cox who went on to slam it in to the net. 2-1 Albion.
Game on. City made a number of subs with Milner being one of them to try and control our midfield which they did to a point and made for a frantic final 15 minutes before the whistle blew.
On reflection
I was impressed with Tchoyi. His overall play and speed looked great on the ball running and passing defenders with ease. He deserved the man-of-the-match. Dozza looked back to his best and ran the legs off the City midfield.
Pablo Ibanez also looked class. It shows we have depth in our squad to change things around and still compete with the big boys of the Premier League.
The gate on the night was not good – 10,000 + but was it ever going to be? This cup competition has been devalued over the years, but it still throws up surprises – look at the results on the night.
It was a game to enjoy some great football from us and showed no matter how much you spend, no matter how big your squad, if you do not have the desire you will come second best.
I hope we have a good run and give the Baggies faithful something to cheer.
Bring on the Gunners………Boing Boing
Ardbaggie62