West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Portsmouth
By Jemma Tappenden
December 8 2008
Despite the good nature between Albion and Pompey, this pre Christmas Hawthorns fixture was a must win for the Baggies. More than revenge for last season’s dumping out of the FA Cup during the semi final at Wembley, Albion needed to concentrate on Premiership revival, and relive the victory against Pompey during the great escape of four seasons ago.
Tony Mowbray showed faith in the starting eleven which had fallen to a 2-1 defeat at Wigan last weekend and named the same starting line up. For Portsmouth former Baggie Kanu started on the bench.
If Albion were nervous they never showed it. A flying start was had by Mowbray’s men as the importance of the occasion showed in the opening stages. In the first few minutes Chris Brunt had flicked on Greening’s flag kick to allow Abdoulaye Meite a glancing header at goal which he placed just wide. Moments later Robert Koren fired a ferocious shot which caught Pompey goalie David James full on in the midriff.
Greening was getting some good crosses in, and James Morrison was the next to attempt goal with a dangerous far post header which James did well to collect. Trying his luck himself, Jonathan Greening planted a 25 yard effort straight into the arms of James, and tension around the Hawthorns began to rise as nothing fruitful had so far come of the plentiful possession.
After 23 minutes Albion found the weakness in Portsmouth’s defence, as Morrison paced down the right flank. But from 20 yards he fired just wide, and still the chances were going begging. Two minutes later more frustration as Greening and Miller combined well to put Brunt clean through on goal. Brunt really should have at least hit the target with his 18 yard effort which sailed inches wide of the post.
Finally in the 39th minute an Albion goal arrived. Sol Campbell gave away a free kick on the edge of his own area as he was adjudged to have held Miller back. Chris Brunt smashed the resulting free kick off the underside of the crossbar and Jonathan Greening was in the right place to hammer the rebound into an empty net from just eight yards.
The goal was the last significant action of the first half – a half in which Carson had been untroubled by a flimsy Portsmouth side.
Half Time: West Bromwich Albion 1-0 Portsmouth
As it happened, the Baggies would live to regret the first half’s missed opportunities, as Tony Adams side came out a transformed side after the break. Within the opening three minutes of the half Albion had been lucky to not concede an equaliser, as Valero misplaced a pass which set up Glen Johnson to release Defoe down the right. Defoe managed to get the cross in, but luckily for Albion Peter Crouch had advanced too far forward in the box to collect it.
Albion hadn’t lost any of their own attacking drive however, and it didn’t take them long to trouble the Pompey defence again. Miller sailed past Sylvain Distin with ease, and his 15 yard effort required two attempts from James to get a firm grip on the ball.
On 59 minutes however, Portsmouth managed to find an equaliser, despite Albion having still enjoyed the better of the play. England striker Peter Crouch collected a loose ball 25 yards out and his strike took an unfortunate deflection of Abdoulaye Meite to sail helplessly over Carson and into the net.
Keen to show that they were by no means deflated, the baggies continued to press. A fine near post save from James denied Miller after he had gathered Valero’s neat pass. But revived by their own goal Pompey were now also searching for a winner, and it was clear to see that they were becoming far more dangerous than at any other point in the game so far.
Defoe made easy work of skipping past Zuiverloon to get a shot in from a tight angle, and in the 73rd minute Albion were lucky to be level after Johnson gathered the ball in the box. Unmarked and unchallenged he somehow managed to sky his effort from just 10 yards.
In the 76th minute the Baggies suffered an injury blow as Ishmael Miller was stretchered off after colliding with David James. Luke Moore was his replacement, who went upfront to partner Roman Bednar, who had himself only come on in the 68th minute replacing Valero.
In the 83rd minute Baggies fans held their breath as Carson fumbled with Johnson’s cross. But the keeper who had had so little to do in the first half managed to recover in time to prevent the loose ball from crossing the line. Despite a number of decent chances for Albion to retake the lead, they just could not capitalise on the opportunities. A point a piece was the result of a game in which the Baggies had been largely dominant.
Full Time: West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Portsmouth
Greening (39)
Crouch (59)
Attendance: 24,964