Goals from Graham Dorrans and Gonzalo Jara helped Albion to their fourth away win of the season at The Walkers Stadium. Unsurprisingly, Roberto Di Matteo only made one change to the side that had beaten Watford 5-0 in Albion’s previous game, with Chris Brunt replacing Felipe Teixeira.
The noise levels were building up in the stands 15 minutes before the kick-off when a helicopter landed in the centre-circle to present the match ball to the referee to commemorate those who have lost their lives in conflicts around the world. To continue the remembrance, the last post was played just after the teams came out, and a minute’s silence was impeccably observed, despite some confusion as to when it was starting.
First-half
The first 20 minutes were tense with neither side really creating any opportunities. This wasn’t due to a lack of hard work, though, as Luke Moore and Graham Dorrans in particular were causing Leicester a lot of problems with their movement. It was Moore who wasted the best chances of the opening exchanges, first seeing his shot well blocked by Wayne Brown, after an excellent through-ball by Dorrans, before shooting straight at Chris Weale in the Leicester goal following good play from Gianni Zuiverloon.
Despite seeing Martyn Waghorn having a shot well saved by Scott Carson, the hosts caused Albion very few problems throughout the game with Jonas Olsson and Abdoulaye Meite keeping the disappointing Matty Fryatt quiet.
Albion took the lead after 37 minutes when Dorrans sent a low, 25-yard free-kick through a crowd of bodies and into the bottom corner much to the delight of the 3,200 Baggies fans who had made the journey.
It got even better for Albion just three minutes later when the outstanding Gonzalo Jara beat Weale from 30 yards firing a powerful shot into the bottom corner.
After the break
During half-time there was a parade featuring war veterans that went round the whole perimeter of the pitch and received a fantastic reception from all four corners of the ground. One veteran even saluted in front of the Albion supporters drawing huge cheers from the travelling Baggies!
Despite holding a two-goal advantage, nerves were jangling at the start of the second-half when Paul Gallagher was inches away from connecting with a Fryatt cross.
The second-half was one of very few chances with Albion content to hold onto their advantage; whilst staying solid enough at the back to avoid conceding. If anything, we created the better chances in the second half with Chris Brunt seeing a header well saved and Moore seeing an audacious lob hit the top of the crossbar.
Having kept Leicester and their supporters quiet for the majority of the game, it was a surprise when the hosts grabbed a consolation in injury time with Bruno Berner firing a shot high into the net after Carson had got down well to save a free-kick from Gallagher.
In summary
On reflection this was an excellent result against a side who had won their last three games. Whilst Leicester offered very little throughout the game, any side who is in the top six in a division as tight as this one have to be a quality side.
Defensively we were very solid with Joe Mattock turning in an impressive performance, despite the best efforts of the home supporters, who booed him throughout the game. Olsson and Meite continued their run of form, and were only one minute away from making it three clean sheets in a row. Zuiverloon was solid at right-back and used his pace to get forward effectively.
In midfield, the excellent partnership of Jara and Dorrans continued to blossom with both players scoring and playing superbly. On this evidence, Youssouf Mulumbu is not guaranteed a place in the starting line-up. Out wide, both Brunt and Jerome Thomas showed their quality in flashes, but never produced as consistently as you would expect from them.
Up front Moore worked incredibly hard and got himself into some very good positions without being able to take the chances that came his way. Simon Cox was quiet and it was no surprise when he was substituted not long into the second-half as we began to settle for what we had.
It was an excellent day out and result which sent the three SussexBaggies back down the M1 with a massive smile on our faces!
Boing Boing!