As the rain poured down in the West Midlands, there was an upbeat atmosphere around The Hawthorns with a Baggies side hoping to carry on the winning mentality, while a packed out Bristol City following attempted to make it eight wins without a loss. RDM named an unchanged Baggies side for the first time this season.
Exciting opening
There was a spectacular start to the game culminating in a 3rd minute goal. In the opening seconds Luke Moore was played through and drove from distance into the side netting (closest he’s got all season eh, Northy). Play switched to the other end and Maynard tempted Carson out of his goal before crossing to Skuse who fired towards the vacated net, only for Zuiverloon to clear off the goal-line. The excitement wasn’t over; Graham Dorrans picked up the clearance and made ground before feeding Jerome Thomas wide left. The winger cut inside and let fly from over twenty yards beating the keeper at the foot of his right hand post.
It was end-to-end stuff and Scott Carson did well, at full stretch, to tip over a dipping header. Albion were looking sharp and moving the ball forward quickly with crisp accurate passing. In the 12th minute they were rewarded with a second goal. Graham Dorrans was again involved, spotting that Chris Brunt had drifted inside from the right wing, he picked him out with a defence splitting pass. The finish was classy; controlled the pass brilliantly, side-stepped the keeper and then almost nonchalantly, from a narrow angle, clipped the ball across the face of the goal and in off the foot of the far post and left Gherken in a right pickle. In an entertaining game, Carson was tested again and again but stood firm; Brunt set up Dorrans from a set piece but he mis-kicked; then Chris Brunt hit a pile-driver free kick which the keeper did well to parry. At half-time we had a deserved two goal advantage, but the visitors were by no means out of the game.
After the break
You'd expect City to have come out fired up by a half-time team talk, but whatever plans their manager had come up with soon went out the window. Within 50 seconds of the restart we were three-up. Gianni Zuiverloon cleverly fed Simon Cox inside the box and when keeper Gerken came out to dive at his feet, he chipped the ball over him. In a desperate attempt to clear Carey sliced the ball into his own net. If the scorer of that 46th minute goal was questionable there was no doubt as to who fired the Baggies four goals in front in the 48th minute. Jerome Thomas made just enough room to curl in an inswinging centre from the left and, with the defence flatfooted, Simon Cox slid in to net from close range.
Just before the hour mark Albion, who had earlier been forced to introduce Marek Cech for the injured Mattock, chose to bring on Youssouf Mulumbu for the influential Dorrans. It didn’t quell the number of chances, as first Chris Brunt forced another fine save from Gerken and then, from the move of the match, Simon Cox looked to have slid a low shot past the keeper, only for Gerken to get a hand to the ball and deflect it the wrong side of the post. The introduction of what seemed a disinterested Koren for Cox took a bit of pressure off City and after forcing Carson to tip one free-kick over the bar, given another chance in the 83rd minute, Hartley found the top right hand corner for a spectacular Robins’ consolation goal. In between those efforts, Chris Brunt forced Gerken to make another fine save. In atrocious conditions both sides had served up attractive football and although the margin of victory was about right, but for the keepers, the final score could easily have been 7-4.
On conclusion
On reflection, this was arguably the most enjoyable home game of the season so far, because we played attractive football and scored some excellent goals, against one of the in-form Championship sides. Scott Carson made important saves. Gianni Zuiverloon once again played well going forward and made a vital goal-line clearance. Graham Dorrans was the driving force from midfield, setting up both the opening goals. Jerome Thomas scored early and created another, whilst Chris Brunt scored the best goal and came close with several other attempts. Simon Cox came to the fore in the second-half, scored one (maybe two) and only the keeper’s fingertips prevented another.
Selecting just one man-of-the-match has seldom been more difficult. Roberto Di Matteo looks to have settled on his best side. He must have been pleased with the two wingers today, who were involved in three of the four goals and by cutting inside onto their best feet had by my reckoning at least five of our eight on-target shots. Presumably, he encouraged the high tempo start which effectively won us the points. I was not that keen on the last two substitutions, which handed back the initiative to City, but I imagine he was aiming to rest key players and keep all the squad involved. A good performance, three points and top of table. You can’t ask for anymore.