Preston North End (3) v West Bromwich Albion (0)

By Stuart Kidson
February 9 2004

LACK LUSTRE, LAZY, POOR, UNDER PAR, USELESS, RUBBISH....A FEW CHOICE DESCRIPTIVES HEARD ON THE WAY BACK FROM DEEPDALE ON SATURDAY EVENING BY UNHAPPY BAGGIES FANS ABOUT THEIR TEAM PERFORMANCE.

Preston North End (3) v West Bromwich Albion (0)
Nationwide Division One, Saturday 7th February 2004
Deepdale

Albion's misery of 55 years continues as they lose ground on league leaders Norwich City after going down 3 - 0 against Preston North End. Veteran Baggies fans in the crowd may just remember the last time the Baggies recorded a win at Deepdale, when Tommy Docherty scored an own goal on September 10th 1955. Since then Deepdale has proved to be something of a bogey ground to the Baggies and this weekend was no exception.

Gary Megson fielded a starting line up unchanged from the 3 - 1 win over Watford, with Jason Koumas returning from his knee injury and new signing Morten Skoubo coming into the squad. Lee Hughes kept his place despite appearing in court on Friday morning.

Deepdale returnee Sean Gregan was given a welcoming reception by the home fans for his first visit since leaving the Lancashire side at the start of last season, and he almost made it a dream start for himself and the Baggies 3000 travelling fans when he volleyed a Darren Moore flick on from close range over the bar.

Albion had certainly begun the game with an upbeat mood and looked as if they were going to come away with something from the game if they continued for the 90 minutes. Preston had other ideas though and Thomas Gaardsoe gave away a free kick for an alleged pull on Ricardo Fuller. Andy Johnson was on hand to clear the ball following the free kick.

The Baggies were the stronger side in the opening stages of the game, and this was reflected in the stands as well as the Barmy Army were by far the loudest of the two sets of fans, urging their team on in fine voice. Neil Clement swung in a cross from a corner and Darren Moore made sure his presence was felt in the box but he could not make any contact with the ball.

Preston then attacked and McKenna tried a long range effort but his wayward strike sailed high, wide and handsome over the crossbar into the Baggies fans. Mark Kinsella sent in a low shot for the visitors but Lonergan the Preston keeper was untroubled as he got down low to prevent a goal.

The Baggies were threatening to take something from the tie and should have taken the lead when Hughes was picked out by Clement, but the ginger haired striker could only drag his shot wide of the upright. Hughes had been on the receiving end of some abuse from the Preston fans thanks to his court appearance and it looked as if frustration at shutting them up could become a factor to his game.

The home side came forward with more confidence as the game progressed and won a corner after Lewis got the better of Bernt Haas. There was a moment of indecision inside the Albion goalmouth but Clement cleared the danger for the Stars in Stripes. Moments later Kinsella failed to direct a header and the ball fell to Healy. He turned his marker well and let fly but fortunately his shot was going wide from the moment it left his boot.

Preston had begun to come to terms with the game and were pegging the Baggies back inside their own half with an increasing regularity, but the Baggies were always likely to break free of their constraints with many a clearance hoofed up field from defence. Not particularly attractive football but effective with Hughes and Horsfield to aim for.

Preston's opener came courtesy of a controversial free kick awarded by Referee Mr. Jeff Winter. Fuller reached the edge of the Albion area and went down rather easily after a challenge from Paul Robinson. The kick went out wide instead of straight at the wall and Lewis unleashed a rocket shot straight into the top of the net. The home fans finally found their voices and made some noise.

Albion were guilty of losing the game in the middle of the park and the referee did not help matters with his constant denial of appeals from the Baggies players and fans. Preston defenders spent a large majority hanging off Geoff Horsfield's neck but Mr. Winter remained unimpressed. Fuller was starting to become a thorn in the side of the Baggies defence and the home side grew with confidence with each attack which were now beginning to come with a startling regularity.

Albion almost pulled a goal back just before the break when Clement tried his luck from 40 yards when his free kick was inches high over the bar as Lonergan scrambled to cover his goalmouth.

The second half started with the Baggies attacking and Johnson was guilty of wasting a chance when his shot was hit well wide of the mark. Gaardsoe was next to try for the visitors when he rose highest to meet a Clement corner but Lonergan produced a wonderful reaction save to palm the ball over the crossbar.

Preston were almost gifted another goal by Gregan who did not direct his header back to Russell Hoult well at all and Fuller was quick to pounce. Hoult composed himself and snatched the ball away from the rampaging striker before any further damage could be done.

Moments later Healy sent Lewis racing clear with a nicely weighted through ball but his shot was fired wide of the mark. More bewildering decisions from Mr. Winter denied the Baggies further chances but the reluctance of Mr. Winter to deal with serial antagonist Cresswell left Gary Megson fuming.

Cresswell had been riding his luck with Darren Moore most of the afternoon and at one point in the first half had clashed heads with the Baggies defender, this went of course, unpunished by the official, but it was the strikers late challenge on Hoult that caused most concern for Baggies fans. Cresswell was guilty of the latest of challenges on Hoult and the keeper was left lying prone inside his area. Preston players just kept coming forward looking for a goal whilst Hughes was shouting at them to put the ball out of play. Craig Brown has always come across as a decent man with a good sound sense of fair play, unfortunately this aspect of the managers game seems to be lost on some of his players.

Shortly after this incident Megson made a double substitution, replacing Clement and Kinsella with Jason Koumas and Lloyd Dyer in an attempt to shake the Albion out of their complacency. 15 minutes from time the game was up for the Albion has Healy, who was in a debateable offside position ran onto blast the ball past an injured Hoult. Preston made sure of the game several minutes later when Mr. Winter awarded a penalty for handball against Gaardsoe, however 3000 Baggies fans clearly saw the incident as ball to hand rather than the other way round. Mr. Winter was nothing but consistent with his decisions and gave the benefit of his many years of wisdom to the home side who made no mistake from the spot.

Albion were battling against some rather dubious decisions from the officials but this takes nothing away from a solid Preston performance in which the home side out fought, out played and out shone their visitors. It was an overall very poor performance from West Brom. No doubt the Baggies team will be reporting for extra training on Sunday morning.

The baggiesworld.co.uk Man of the Match was selected by Joe Evans, of Smethwick and he gave the honour to LEE HUGHES

Teams
Preston Lonergan, Jackson, Broomes, Mears, Alexander, Lewis, McKenna, Healy, Etuhu, Fuller, Cresswell
Subs Gould, Keane, Edwards, Burley, Abbott

West Brom Hoult, Gaardsoe, Moore, Gregan, Haas, Johnson, Kinsella, Clement, Robinson, Horsfield, Hughes
Subs Murphy, J. Chambers, Dyer, Skoubo, Koumas