One step forward, two back for Baggies

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After the optimism streaming out of the Hawthorns last Monday following a hard-earned point at the expense of Manchester United, the last couple of matches for Albion have served as a bit of a reality check.

After a very poor first half against Crystal Palace, in a match that has since been overshadowed by Mark Clattenburg’s musical taste, Alan Irvine’s substitution of Stephane Sessegnon for Victor Anichebe at the interval seemed to work.

The Nigerian’s physical presence gave Brede Hangeland and Adrian Mariappa something else to think about, something they clearly didn’t handle very well; Anichebe scored one and won the penalty for the other.

You don’t worry as a West Brom fan when Saido Berahino steps up to take a spot-kick. It must have been the same feeling for Southampton fans when they saw Matt Le Tissier or Rickie Lambert place the ball on the spot. Berahino has scored four this season, including one for the England U21s. He netted the only one he took last season, versus Newcastle, too. They get better every time.

While we rescued a point, a point every home fan in the ground would have taken with five minutes to go, you’d still have to reflect on it as two points dropped. It would have taken the pressure off going into our clash with Leicester on Saturday.

As it is, with our defeat to Bournemouth in mind, it means we’ve gone the whole of October without victory. International breaks and tough fixtures against top six sides mean it was a pretty difficult period, but with Leicester and Newcastle our next two games it’s imperative we make up the points we could really do with.

Much was made of our change in personnel for the trip to Dean Court on Tuesday, but ultimately the Cherries made the same number of changes as us and we had no excuses. Congratulations to Bournemouth, though; I’m sure Eddie Howe and co will relish hosting Liverpool.

The fans were tremendous once again, without reward. It was a long journey for heartbreak in the dying minutes; I think most Albion fans in the away end that night would rather have just lost 1-0 than go through that rollercoaster! Nearly 3,500 will be at the King Power on Saturday, and while you know that the supporters will keep their end of the bargain, hopefully the players can reward them.

Boing boing!

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