West Brom’s injury-time woes
Who says a football match lasts 90 minutes? If only it did, then West Brom would be looking back on two well earned draws which arguably could have been more.
Posted by
Craig Punfield
November 1st, 2012
The misery of the last-gasp loss to Man City two weeks ago was then added to by Newcastle getting the winner in the 93rdminute of the match last Sunday.
Both of these recent losses have been inflicted by counter attacks from the opposition in the dying breaths of the game, showing how confident Steve Clarke is of his team being able to get results against sides that, previously, getting any result against used to be seen as something of a bonus – but Clarke seems to want more than just draws against the bigger sides, which is something I can only help but admire.
Yes the last two results have been cruel on us, but that’s football, that’s why we love it. Just because you have the majority of the play and look the most likely to score it doesn’t mean anything unless you get the ball in the back of the net.
Looking back to the first game of the season and the 3-0 victory against Liverpool, I remember thinking we could have easily lost that match if Suarez put away his chances.
Sometimes you need Lady Luck to help you get a fortunate deflection to save a goal, or she can be shining her smile onto the other team’s striker’s backside to send the ball into the opposite direction resulting in your club to lose (not that I’m bitter or anything).
Another promising sign from this weekend was the fact that we controlled the second half and looked dangerous with some key members of the side missing, showing just how important a strong squad is and not just a good first XI.
Brunt, Yacob and Reid were all missing but you wouldn’t have noticed for large parts of the game and the strength in depth we have at the club currently will only help us as we look towards the gruelling festive period.
As proud as I am of the Baggies’ last two performances it is vital we get a win on Monday against the struggling Southampton side. If we fail to beat the Saints then all the early season momentum will begin to go, we will begin to slide down the table and confidence will begin to take a knock.
I personally can’t see that being an issue however, with Nigel Adkins’ side looking shaky at the back I feel we will have enough to cause their defensive areas problems and pile more pressure on the south coast club, and manager.
Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
