West Brom 2-2 Aston Villa. Match Report

First off I just want to say what a fantastic game of football that was. It might not have always been of the highest quality (What derby games are?) but we had a fantastic atmosphere, some crunching tackles and some fantastic goals.

It’s often said that managers earn their money by their ability to make the right substitutions at the right time. If this is the case then Paul Lambert will be looking for a pay rise in the morning. His Villa side were outplayed, outclassed and  2 goals down for nearly an hour until he made a triple substitution that completely changed the game, and eventually led to his team fighting back to earn a point.

Albion were a goal up after only 3 minutes as Brunt played a long ball over the top of the Villa defence where it was taken out of the air like Bergkamp in his prime by Shane Long and he cut inside Nathan Baker and slotted a low left foot shot into the far corner. And things soon got even better for the Baggies as they doubled their lead on 11 minutes. Make-shift Villa right back Bacuna played a ridiculous pass across his own area straight to Long again who beat Baker with a step-over and clipped the ball over Guzan. Sessengnon, who had an absolutely terrible game, should have put the game to bed inside 20 minutes but he got his feet all wrong when attempting to meet a cross from the right hand side at the back post; scuffing an effort wide from 4 yards.

The only relative bright spot for the Villains was a Kozak half volley which cannoned off the crossbar following a flick on from Benteke. In short Villa had been awful. They had threatened very little going forward and looked incredibly fragile at the back especially when defending long balls. Without a doubt the star man had been Long. He had scored both goals and had been a constant threat to the Villa back line.

The 2^nd half began in much the same fashion as the 1^st had ended. Albion were in control and dominating possession. Any attempts by Villa to gain some forward momentum were often brought to an abrupt end through their own mistakes as they repeatedly gave the ball away. Then came the defining moment of the game. Lambert replaced Kozak, Tonev and the ineffective Sylla for Weimann, Agbonlahor and Delph and the game changed almost immediately. All of a sudden there was an urgency in the visitors that had been lacking in the 1^st half and when El Almadi got on the end of Weimann’s flick on to knock the ball over Myhill in the Albion goal with just over 20 minutes to go, it was game on.

It was now the home side who started to look uncertain as confidence rushed back into the Villa ranks as they pressed for an equaliser. And in the 77^th minute their hard work was rewarded as Goran Popov who was making his 1^st start in the league this season headed a clearance straight to Westwood who took a touch and hammered a low shot into the bottom corner. Not a bad way to score your 1^st goal for your club by any means. Both teams had half opportunities as the game thundered towards a conclusion but were unable to find a way through giving them both a share of the points.

All in all a draw is probably a fair result and in truth also a fair reflection of how closely matched the teams actually are. Albion had been control of the game with impressive performances from Long and Mulumbu but as soon as the Villa substitutions were made and when they got a goal back there was only one team who looked like winning the game. So I don’t think either side can have too many complaints. Anyway, the two previous encounters between these sides had finished 2-2 so I guess there was only ever going to be one result, right?