West Bromwich Albion (1) v Derby County (1)

By Stuart Kidson
December 28 2003

UNDER PRESSURE BAGGIES PULL A LATE LATE GOAL BACK TO DRAW A FIXTURE THEY HAD NO RIGHT TO GET ANYTHING FROM. Albion were iincredibly lucky to come out of this game with a share of the points but poor finishing from Derby helped.

West Bromwich Albion (1) v Derby County (1)
Friday 26th December 2003
The Hawthorns, Nationwide League Division One

Derby County made the short trip down the A38 for this festive season fixture and their fans must have returned to the East Midlands feeling as if they had been mugged. West Brom showed no passion, commitment or desire throughout the game and yet came out of the tie with a share of the points. If aliens had managed to get into the Hawthorns this afternoon they would have thought that Derby were lying second in the League and West Brom were towards the bottom half of the league.

Outplayed, out fought and extremely lucky is the only description that could be used for the Baggies performance this Boxing Day. The Baggies extended their run of appalling home form, making it 6 games since a win at home and the frustration of the home support was vocally displayed as the home side were booed off the pitch at half time.

Derby came into the fixture lying towards the wrong end of the table. A position that is undeserved for such a hard working team, but football is a game as much dependant upon luck than skill at times and The Rams have certainly had more than their fair share of bad luck since dropping out of the Premiership 2 seasons ago.

Albion started the game with Lee Hughes returning to the starting line up alongside Geoff Horsfield who was making his Hawthorns debut in a Baggies shirt. Neil Clement did not even make it onto the bench as Paul Robinson returned to left wing back role.

The home side could have taken the lead within the first minute when Sean Gregan hoofed a high ball forward which fell to Andy Johnson on the edge of the area, but the midfielders shot was weak and was dealt with easily by Lee Grant in the Rams goal.

Derby could have replied moments later when the Baggies defence were caught in a moment of indecision which is becoming all to regular at the moment. Lee Bradbury, on loan from Portsmouth, beat both Hoult and Phil Gilchrist to a cross from the left by Lee Morris but could only steer the ball wide with his knee. The Rams started to pile the pressure on the home side and Morris was unlucky to have his shot deflected off Bernt Haas's boot and out for a corner just moments later.

Albion were really struggling to contain the visitors in all areas of the park and the frustration began to tell on the home support who groaned everytime a pass or mistake gave away possession. Derby fans were out in force for this Boxing day game and were by far the loudest on the day.

With the Albion showing little or no flair at all the visitors kept pressing home attack after attack and the best effort of the lot fell to Marcus Tudgay who rose highest to head the ball straight at former Ram, Hoult following a cross from Luciano Zavagno.

With his side being beaten convincingly by the visitors and manager Gary Megson decided to make a change to the formation with Gregan moving into the midfield in an attempt to get someone who actually wanted the ball. The Baggies went from 3-5-2 to 4-4-2 but it did not make the slightest bit of difference. Morris was proving to be a real threat down the left and he almost scored a deserved goal when he jinked his way around Haas and then Thomas Gaardsoe before firing into the side netting. Derby were doing everything right but their finishing was letting them down.

The Baggies did not come close to troubling Grant in the Rams goal until the 24th minute when Hughes knocked Jason Koumas's throughball onto the path of Haas who hit a rocket shot low towards goal but Grant was aware of the danger and blocked the shot.

On the half hour mark Derby opened up yet another chance when Youl Mawene took a free kick which Bradbury managed to play onto Ian Taylor. The ex Villa man lobbed the ball over the on rushing Hoult but his effort went wide of the upright and out for a goal kick.

Derby then increased their pressure as chance after chance fell to them. Tudgay fired a bullet header towards goal which produced a superb save from Hoult, Taylor had a shot from 15 yards go over after Bradbury had done all the work and then Morris beat the offside trap and was clear on goal. Hoult rushed out of his area and did just enough to put the pacey winger off his stride before Haas blasted the ball into the East Stand.

Half time could not come soon enough for the Baggies and they left the field to booing from every stand. Throughout the East Stand, phone conversations were generally along the lines of 'worst Baggies display this season', 'We'll get murdered if we don't sort this out' and 'We've got no midfield'. The general consensus was that the Albion had forgotten to turn up for this game and that Megson was far too defensive in his tactics. To make matters, the rain which had been falling throughout the game, suddenly got heavier.

The Baggies came out for the second half and reverted to the familiar 3-5-2 formation but the visitors continued as they had finished the first half and went close twice in the opening minutes. Morris again got in a cross which needed Gilchrist to clear before either Tudgay or Bradbury could simply tap in.

Morris was again involved when he put Hoult under pressure and forced the keeper into failing to punch the ball clear. Taylor was standing on the far post unmarked but he could not direct the ball into the empty net.

It was obvious that the Albion midfield were being over run and Megson decided to make changes. James O'Connor, who had run his heart out for the Baggies in midfield, was replaced by Artim Sakiri and Hughes was replaced by Robbie Hulse.

The changes almost paid off straight away when a long punt from Gilchrist sent the former Crewe striker off towards goal but he lost his footing in the slippery conditions just at the last moment and allowed Michael Johnson time to clear the ball from danger. The new players had seemingly bought a renewed vigour to the home side as they began to find their way out of their own half, but the home side were still reliant on poor finishing from Derby to keep them afloat. Bradbury wasted another chance when he shot wide after Morris had sent him clear.

The rain had now become a torrential downpour and again a Tudgay header from a Zavagno cross caused problems for the Baggies but Hoult did well in the conditions to stop the shot. The first 5 rows of seats in the East Stand cleared as the rain lashed down onto the massed ranks of home fans much to the delight of the Derby fans in the Smethwick End.

Hulse again came close to opening the scoring when he got onto the end of Haas's cross but the blonde striker could not get enough purchase on the shot which went to ground before going wide of the post. In the 73rd minute Hoult denied Bradbury when he somehow managed to prevent Bradbury from opening the scoring by sticking his foot out to block the shot.

Koumas, who had been very quiet during the game, finally came alive and went on a mazy run past two defenders before trying to chip the keeper who was off his line. Unfortunately for the Welsh midfielder Grant was able to see the ball in time and easily collected the ball on his chest.

Derby's efforts finally paid off 4 minutes from time when Candido Costa found the back of the net when he drilled a low shot underneath Hoult from 18 yards after the Baggies lost the ball in the middle of the park.

Megson decided to throw caution to the wind with so little time of the game left and Gaardsoe was sent up front which meant the Baggies had tried three different formations as they now adopted a 4-3-3 line up. Whether this move was an inspired one is open to debate but 2 minutes into injury time the Danish international poked the ball into the Brummie Road End goal after Hulse had headed Koumas's corner back across the goal. The tall dane bundled the ball home in the scramble and the relief was immense for the home fans.

Almost from the restart the Baggies could have stolen the game when the defender almost headed in at the near post but his effort was a fraction of an inch wide of the upright. More booing came when the referee blew for full time.

Derby fans must have left the ground wondering just what they have to do to get a win away from home now as they have a current form record across the last 6 away games of LLDLDD. They were by far the best team in this fixture and fully deserved the win.

No apologies for the late posting, but it was felt that reaction to the game should be included. In a post match interview Gary Megson has stated that 'he wouldn't pay to see this' and that 'Frank Burrows has just said we owe the fans a game after this performance'. He made no excuses for his team.

The baggiesworld Man of the Match was suspended following the Coventry game as no Albion player deserved the honour, well this game sees another first as the honour goes to Lee Morris of Derby County.

Teams:
Baggies Hoult, Gregan, Gaardsoe, Gilchrist, Haas, Koumas, A. Johnson, O'Connor, Robinson, Hughes, Horsfield
Subs Murphy, Moore, Dobie, Sakiri, Hulse

Derby Grant, Jackson, M. Johnson, Mawene, Zavagno, Huddlestone, Taylor, Bolder, Tudgay, Morris, Bradbury
Subs Camp, Mills, Holmes, Boertien, Costa