West Brom v Manchester City
Sunday December 21, 2008, 1.30pm
The Hawthorns - Att: 25, 010
Teams
WBA:
Carson,
Robinson, Koren, Greening (c) (Brunt 83), Bednar, Kim (Dorrans 63),
Moore (Beattie 72), Zuiverloom, Meite, Olsson, Morrison.
unused subs: Kiely, Hoefkens, Barnett, Pele.
City:
Hart, Zabaleta, Dunne (c), Richards, Ball, Kompany, Fernandes, Ireland, Wright-Phillips, Vassell, Benjani (Caicedo 57).
unused subs: Schmeichel, Onuoha, Garrido, Clayton, Hamann, Evans.
Goals: 1-0 (Moore 68), 1-1 (Carson o.g. 86), 2-1 (Bednar 90+2)
Bookings:
WBA: Robinson (52), Bednar (90)
City: Dunne (89)
Referee: C Foy
Pre-match: In
a line-up much changed from Thursday in Santander, Hart replaced
Schmeichel, Ball was back for Garrido, Dunne was in for Ben Haim,
Ireland, SWP & Kompany were all in the engine room – and there was
a surprise return for Benjani up front. The Zimbabwean was thought to
be out for around a month with a hamstring problem, but he was back and
there was no Robinho with his troublesome ankle injury still a problem.
Academy
product Adam Clayton was on the bench for the first time, could the
creative 19 year old midfielder get a game and become the 27th graduate
of Platt Lane to play in the City first team?
The Match
We
were barely a minute into the game when Vassell broke down the left and
forced Albion to concede a corner, from which Ireland eventually fired
over. Within seconds Bednar was trying to latch on to a long ball at
the other end without success.
City had two chances in quick
succession around seven minutes, Benjani getting inbetween Greening and
Meite before fouling Robinson, and then Ireland shot straight at Carson
after City had quickly won the ball back.
Strikers from both
sides were caught offside around the 13 minute mark, with Moore and
then Benjani firing at the keepers just after the flags had been raised.
Good
work from Benjani in the 20th minute allowed Vassell to move into a
threatening position outside the area; he then laid it off the SWP on
his right, whose shot for goal got enough of a deflection from Robinson
to fly just wide of the left post.
The hosts had their best
chance so far a minute afterwards, City failing to clear from inside
the box and James Morrison shot to the near post squeezing wide after a
half-block from Dunne.
We had the woodwork to thank for keeping
it at 0-0 on 31 minutes, Roman Bednar getting into space on the left
and firing a shot at the near post that beat Hart’s left hand, hit the
post, struck Hart on the head and rebounded into safety across the face
of goal.
SWP had been lively on the right flank, and after
keeping his balance with 10 minutes to the break he rolled a short pass
into Fernandes’ path that the Swiss midfielder drove straight at Carson.
We
were just entering stoppage time when City went close at a free kick,
Benjani and Richards almost getting in each other’s way before Micah
fired over, but the referee had blown for a handball by the striker and
had the ball gone in it would not have counted.
Eight minutes
into the second half, after Robinson was booked for fouling SWP, a
quick City move gave us a decent half-chance. A fine pass from
Fernandes found Zabalata, who immediately moved the ball back to SWP,
who smacked it straight at Carson. Five minutes later, Benjani pulled
up with what looked like a pulled muscle, and he was replaced by
Caicedo, making his first league appearance of the season.
City
had a corner which came to nothing on 68 minutes – and from that West
Brom broke away downfield and scored. James Morrison sped away into
City’s half, found Luke Moore in acres of space on the right and the striker made no mistake, sliding the ball under Joe Hart as the keeper went to his left.
The
home side’s tails were up now, and Morrison was near to linking up with
Bednar a minute later, but Ball’s interception came at just the right
time.
Darius Vassell was treated for several minutes after going
down on the edge of the box with 20 minutes left, and with a quarter of
an hour to go West Brom had the ball in the net again – but Morrison
had fouled Hart at a cross just before Beattie had rolled the ball in.
And with six minutes left came the equaliser that had looked so unlikely – and from a sublime piece of skill from Felipe Caicedo!
The imposing Ecuadorian striker foxed the home defence with a backheel
that took a deflection, hit the post and just crept over the line after
hitting Carson. Despite his efforts, it went down as an own goal.
But
a spirited West Brom side went close to going back ahead seconds later,
man of the match James Morrison curling a fine effort just wide of
Hart’s left post.
As we entered the four minutes of time added
on, a superb run and cross from the tireless Vassell just eluded
Stephen Ireland as he steamed into the box.
But there was to be one more twist in the tale – West Brom broke away on the right and Roman Bednar,
who could have been substituted earlier when his name was announced,
found himself totally free in the middle to head home the cross past a
stranded Joe Hart.
There was no time for any more dramatics, and
the home side had the three points they had needed and City were still
in the bottom three.
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