Preston North End 0 - West Bromwich Albion 0

Date: Saturday 3rd October 2009 Live on Sky Sports
Competition: Coca-Cola Championship
Preston:
5.1
(4-4-2) Lonergan, Jones, Mawene, Collins, Nolan, Sedgwick, Carter, Chaplow (Schumulikoski, 70), Wallace, Brown (Parkin, 65), Mellor
Unused subs: Henderson, Hart, Chilvers, Elliott
WBA:
6.5
(4-4-1-1) Carson 6.4, Zuiverloon 5.6, Meite 5.8, Olsson 7.3, Mattock 5.6, Brunt 5.9 (Koren, 60 5.7), Mulumbu 6.7 (Martis, 90+3 5.2), Jara Reyes 7.0, Cech 6.1 (Reid, 79 4.5), Dorrans 8.0, Bednar 5.6
Unused subs: Kiely, Barnett, Wood, Cox
Manager: Roberto Di Matteo 6.4
Referee: A Bates (Staffordshire) 5.5
Attendance: 11,180   Home Fans 4.3   Away Fans 6.6

Dave Watkin:

A point at Preston

Albion ended a run of three successive defeats with a goalless draw against Preston North End at Deepdale. After an enterprising first half, we were more subdued after the break, but still came close to snatching an injury time winner.

There were three changes to the team. Abdoulaye Meite was chosen ahead of Shelton Martis in defence and Marek Cech returned to left midfield in place of Robert Koren. Gonzalo Jara was played alongside Mulumbu and Dorrans in central midfield, with striker Chris Wood returning to the bench.

In contrast to Tuesday?s game, the Baggies made a bright start and came desperately close to taking the lead inside the opening quarter-of-an-hour. Youssouf Mulumbu gained possession deep in the Albion half and the ball was swiftly moved through Chris Brunt to Gonzalo Jara, who played a searching pass to set Graham Dorrans free wide left. The midfielder cut inside, twisted past a defender and hit an early left footed shot which flew off keeper Lonergan?s legs onto the inside of an upright. Even then the danger wasn?t over, but Bednar, following up, couldn?t hit the target. Albion had the edge for the remainder of the half, but came no closer than a Brunt header over the bar, which was matched, late on, by a Jones header from a free kick.

There were strong shouts for a penalty when, in front of the travelling supporters, Roman Bednar robbed a hesitant defender and then was tackled as he was about to shoot. The referee waved play on. Chris Brunt limped off on the hour, but Roberto Di Matteo, rather than take the opportunity to bring on a second striker, replaced him with Robert Koren. Preston then enjoyed a spell of attacking. A Jones header from a corner was headed over the bar by Joe Mattock and then from a free kick, a glancing header from Mellor was only just wide of a post. It was Albion however who finished the strongest. When Roman Bednar collected a long pass, he cut the cut the ball back to Graham Dorrans, who tested Lonergan with a rising drive which he deflected over. Deep into injury time Graham Dorrans came closer still. Joe Mattock picked him out with a precision cross and his downward header was about to creep in at the foot of the keeper?s left hand post, when he flung himself across the goal to push it out. There was brief mayhem after Roman Bednar collected the loose ball and fed Reid. His shot was headed partially clear and then on the edge of the box two Albion players collided in their eagerness to get in another shot, before the final whistle indicated a stalemate.

One might say that a draw was the fairest result, but the relative activity of the two keepers tells another story. Whereas Scott Carson was confined to routine saves, Andy Lonergan pulled off three point saving stops. It?s possible that had we not just suffered a trio of losses, we might have pushed on for victory, but overall a draw at a close rival to ensure a place in the top two, is not a bad day?s work.

Graham Dorrans was the star of the show, but not far behind was the industrious pairing of Youssouf Mulumbu and Gonzalo Jara who guaranteed us the lion?s share of possession. Another strong showing from Jonas Olsson helped ensure our first clean sheet since Middlesbrough. I?m not certain that Meite is the answer at the back; he and others were a little hesitant at times. There?s also a lack of fire power that needs to be addressed. Nevertheless we were all a lot happier on our return journey than four days earlier.

STATISTICS

It?s 50 years since Albion last won a league match at Deepdale. In 1958/59, when the Baggies famously sent Aston Villa plunging into the 2nd Division by drawing the local derby on the last night of the season; we had earlier, on Saturday 29th January, beaten the Lilywhites 4-2. Since then, we?ve won cup ties, but league encounters have been rather a disaster. After five consecutive defeats at least we?ve collared a point, one of only three, from 11 games, in the last half century! Draws in matches between the two clubs have been rare recently; the last goalless encounter at Deepdale was back in 1922.

ALBION FORMRATE: FAIRLY GOOD

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: GRAHAM DORRANS

Albion retain second spot behind Newcastle United; but Preston slip to fifth behind Middlesbrough and Cardiff City.

Philip Cole (RSABaggie):

A match report of Preston v WBA from DSTv (Sky) in South Africa. The commentator summed it up as 'A disappointing 0-0 draw but with West Brom always more likely to score' which seems like a fair summing up to me. If we'd scored I think we would have gone on to win quite easily; Preston really didn't look much threat. As other posters have said, this really is a very poor Championship and we should be able to romp home.

I'll be very interested to read from posters who were actually there as I thought the officials were an absolute disgrace. From the admittedly partial view of TV, I thought that there were two stonewalled penalties. Firstly, Brunt was blatantly pushed in the back by Sedgwick as he went for a header. Secondly, our prat-in-a-shirt Mattock barged their attacker as he went for the ball. Finally, Collins took out Bednar no-messing-about to stop a near certain goal. All these within clear sight of the ref and yet nothing given!

Perhaps even worse, the ref failed to blow for very obvious fouls and thuggery (our ex-Carter was an especially bad culprit) starting from mid-way through the first half. This was obviously begining to rile our players and so they started to give in-kind. This then went on for the rest of the match to the point that when Jara was blatantly barged in the kidneys, the ref nearly lost control of the match! What are these clowns paid for?

As for the match, we were up for it especially in the first half and made some lovely passes as we cut through Preston with ease. But back to the usual problem of no end product, although Graham Dorrans, our clear MOM, had a series of great chances. My concern is that for all our great approach play our attack continues to be toothless, just like last season.

The defence looked well in control for almost all the match but, this being the Albion, and with three out of four of our defender best described as 'dodgy', when Preston started exerting a bit of pressure towards the end of the second half, I was just waiting for the inevitable mistake to give the ball to the overweight, one paced bonkhoss Neil Mellor and let Preston score. Thankfully that didn't happen, mostly due to the organising and crucial tackles of our hero Jonas Olsson, who I really think should be our captain.

We are clearly a side in transition and in these situations, patience is needed! RdM has got the side working together better and getting the ball forward quicker than the Mowbray side and, when it clicks I think we will be awesome. But we still don't have sufficient quality in crucial positions in defence and attack, despite having purchased a good number of players over the summer. But are they up to it? I think the jury is still very much out! The result being that we only need two or three players out, as we currently have, and the side is very much weaker. Time to crack open the old leather purse JP!

MARKS

  • Carson - 6: Did nothing wrong with the little that he had to deal with but he is not a captain and is STILL failing to shout to his defenders.
  • Mattock - 4: Put in a couple of decent crosses when he got forward but missed some crucial tackles and nearly gave away a penalty. Makes Paul Robinson look good which says it all!
  • Meite - 5: Didn't do anything wrong as such but was slow and looked rusty. And he just doesn't look like his hearts in it! Despite the constant risk of a fluff, I still think Martis is a better bet.
  • Olsson - 8: Our Mr Reliable does it just as well as usual. Constant clearing up and a tackle to stop a train. Please JP buy some real defenders to play alongside him!
  • Zuiverloon - 6: Great link up play going forward and even won himself a couple of shots! But as Smethwick Batman has posted, er ... he's a right back and he goes absent from his position too often. Thankfully Preston weren't good enough to exploit the gaps.
  • Brunt - 7: Got himself about and created his usual couple of chances. I can see why he's played on the right side as he has the attributes of an old inside-forward. He hasn't the pace or the trickery to be a true winger but his passing and ball skills always win a couple of chances each game. Crocked yet again (sigh!)
  • Jara - 7: Looks good and worked hard in midfield. Once he's played enough with his team-mates I think he'll be quite a threat. Good passing, vision and a bit of pace at times. But I thought he was bought as a defender, do we need yet another creative midfielder?
  • Mulumbu - 6: Almost back to Mr Reliable, especially in the first half where he was putting a foot in all over the place. But seemed to fade second half and was taken off.
  • Cech - 7: Has a new lease of life under RdM and is developing into a very important player for us. Part of most of our quick forward moves in the first half but faded in the second and was taken off as well.
  • Dorrans - 8 (MOM): Would have had an extra point if he scored from his chances. But was really buzzing in the first half and was at the centre of anything creative. I can't believe we only paid GBP150,000 for him. A steal and arguably now our most important player.
  • Bednar - 6: Seemed to be more low key than usual and went out to the wing too often to get the ball and to cross to, er ... Bednar. Was getting really angry with the lack of protection from the ref and at times I thought he was going to lose it.

Subs:

  • Reid - 2: Simon Cox must be pissed if Reid gets on instead of him. If Reid is the answer I haven't a clue what is the question! Sole contribution was to get into the penalty area and trip over the ball. A prime illustration of our lack of strength in depth. Why did we buy him then?
  • Koren - 5: Did nothing wrong, but having been dropped you would have hoped that he would get the midfield buzzing again when he came on, as we know he can. Seems out of sorts.
  • Martis: Not on long enough to mark.

Manager - 6: You can see what he is trying to do and he has achieved some successes. The defence seems marginally stronger in comparison to Mowbray's side (but with the same bods in a very poor Championship this year). We ARE getting the ball forward quicker at passing at speed which is a massive improvement from Mowbray's 'lets pass the ball to Greening as he knows what to do with it' faff-about. But the players still seem to lack belief and there seems to be no plan B, just like under Mowbray. Again, I think this is partly due to the lack of strength in depth. But why Reid instead of Cox? If we bought him for GBP1.9 million RdM must see something in him? Or am I missing something?

smethwick batman:

Watched it on the telly after plans to travel called off and didn't fall asleep so have to vote this as a major improvement.

The one thing we don't do is 0-0 draws so the bookies must have made a bomb for the fourth match on the trot but, to our credit, it wasn't for the want of trying at another ground where we haven't won since Terry Wills watched Laurel and Hardy live at the Hippodrome.

Dorrans, in particular, had four great chances and while he blazed one badly wide, Preston had keeper Lonerghan to thank for three great saves for the others which prevented us coming away with all three points.

No point in a blow by blow account as most of you hopefully will have caught the game.

We were much the better side, particularly in midfield there was at times some delightful incisive passing and possession although we failed to exploit the width available and get the goals we deserved on our general play.

Preston were always a threat at set pieces and we were very lucky with one comical cross which saw us commit what looked at first view to be two clear penalties simultaneously as nearly every player in the box tumbled to the deck.

TV replays confirmed we were all wrong - it was three! LOL. I think there were so many bodies in the rugby scrum melee that the ref simply had no idea what to give - he's only got two eyeballs after all!

To balance that, Bednar was hauled down when through one on one. The replay showed the defender just got a foot on the ball but I still thought it was immensely dubious and basically from behind.

We had too much speed and guile in midfield for Chaplow and Carter (the latter so slow and clumsy he committed three shocking fouls and somehow escaped yellow cards with his schoolboy "sorry ref" shrugs).

Our discipline is still a major and worrying problem (and making Ollson captain isn't the answer - he's the biggest culprit along with Bednar!). As well as Jonas played - Meite a cumbersome hunk who did no better than the cruelly dropped, for me, Martis - he actually slapped a Preston player across the face right in front of the referee when Jara was chopped down and somehow got away with it.

The incident turned into a bit of a melee and proved totally why a keeper shouldn't be captain (especially one as placid and sulky looking as Carson) when he eventually turned up after running 60 yards from goal to try and calm our lot down. By the time he got there, play had nearly started again!

Plenty of plus side stuff as well - particularly the effort of the players, the get to the ball first attitude, the Chelsea-like swapping movement and passing (actually a bit too good at times - confused ourselves as well as Preston!) and a game plan of five midfielders with Bednar as a foil to knock back to so they could score which was largely stuck to.

Would love to have seen Tex get a run in a line up like this but bafflingly he was again absent.

With ten minutes to go (literally stopwatch ten minutes) Reid came on again. Has he got this written into his contract? So it was actually De Matteo who ruined our shape when we wanted to press for a winner.

Player Marks

  • Colin Farrell 6 Nowt much to do again but hopeless lack of authority in his own six yard area let alone as captain.
  • Buttock 3 Watched him like a "hawk", Robin Martin. He's an absolute shambles. I just don't get why we paid all that money for him. Can anyone explain?
  • Jonas 7 Tremendous defending again but watch that temper mate.
  • Sicknote 6 Overweight and over here. Solid enough (literally!) but don't inspire at all.
  • Kevin Sighverloan 6 (well that's what the commentator called him twice. Also said the litter blowing on the pitch reminded him of "American Beauty"? Good aint they?) Same old, same old. Great going forward but hopeless positional sense at the back.
  • Cech 6 Played a holding role on the left when we needed energy and width on the left. Whether his fault or not have to mark him down. Perhaps he's as frightened as I am to get too far away from Buttock.
  • Michael Ballack 8 If people give him room (or he gets it by playing behind the striker) he looks real class. Unlucky not to score at least once. 19 year old future Scotland captain. What a snip! How did we do it?
  • Michael Essien 7 Back to his bites yer legs best first half in particular but got a bad knock, faded and eventually came off. Mind you "Robson's Rejects" weren't the highest class opposition.
  • Brunt 6 Some very tidy touches, especially with his head but why oh why isn't he on the left? Won't see him on either side in the near future judging by injury. Good footballer, big problem for us.
  • Nobby Solano 7 Almost shaded Jonas or the German captain for MOM. Looked like Cesc Fabregas at times. Great passing and vision in his sixth position in three matches. Better nickname may be Paulio Madeleyo (look it up young uns). Wonder what he's like at centre half. Could be worth a try....
  • Bednar 6 Lot's of fluster and bluster again and good effort but poor control at times in an "keep it on the carpet" line up.

Subs

  • Koren 5 Anonymous really, even in centre mid. What's up with this bloke?
  • Reid 2 Laughable, literally. Broke free on the right and did a few Ronaldo stepovers and shuffles as he homed in on the full back. And fell flat on his face. Bemused full back scratched his head and ran off up the park with the ball.
  • Martis Tactical substitution on 89 mins. Unfair to mark.

Yammess:

Watched it on Bet 365, while listening to Chris and Dave (once the feed was fixed) Can't see why Dave thought we just shaded it. I think ours was the best of two unremarkable performances. Sorry, Batman.

I feel 2 of the back 4, exceptions were Olsson and Mattock, are a waste of time. Kenny/Gianni, apart from ONE cracking cross, was a waste of space. I'll give you that he 'bombs' forward but his delivery, apart from that one, was abysmal! He doesn't/can't get any elevation on his crosses, but then he never gets them in the right direction, anyway. THEN he ambles back.

Meite made MORE than Shelley's usual one mistake. We were just lucky PNE were so bad they didn't capitalise. Once he was as undecided what to do with the ball as he ran back towards our by line, in the box, as Shelley is. Luckily Carson rescued him. And talking of 'cued', Carson MIS- cued so many clearances over the touch line it was embarassing. Don't know what Deano is coaching him on, can't be kicking a moving ball under pressure.

The mid-field was OK, to a point. Dorrans rightly the best of the bunch, but his shot from about 18yards from the right side of the box, was pathetic. Cow, arse and banjo sprang to mind, Kevin. However, he WAS denied by some great saves, and showed tireless energy. Cech and Koren ran around a lot, but didn't add much. Mulumbu better, but not a patch on Dorrans this week. Jara, showed some great touches, and astute passes to our wide men, and did tackle back. A good job with our back four. But his FINAL ball is nowhere near good enough yet, when we've only got one up front, it often being played to a place devoid of one of our players. I think he'll get better once RDM decides how/where to play him. BUT none of the rest of them showed willing to step up to the plate at times. The instances we had a player with a ball in the right place, often Roman, between touch line and edge of box, and NOBODY was there to receive it, I lost count. Roman gone walkabout again.

Corners and dead balls were a waste of time being awarded. BOTH Dorrans and Brunt, who gets more petulant every time I've seen him, wasted every one, near enough. They had to get ONE right sometime, shirley, and 'they' did. Dorrans could have scored from that one late on. except for an exceptional save. BUT, if they had ALL been that good we WOULD surely have scored at least one goal from a set piece, one of our few strong points this season.

Back to Brunt's petulance. He was lucky not to pick up another yellow, for knocking the ball away, after YET ANOTHER deliberate push on an opposition player was correctly called by the ref. He MUST have known himself that it WAS a foul, yet continued to chunter, just like last week. Then he knocked the ball up in the air, off his wrist. Twat of the first degree, 'wand' or not! Luckily the ball went straight up!! Just the same as Richardson for Sunderland yesterday. Both petulance over what were, after all's said and done, CORRECT decisions! Only Richardson's ball was deemed 'away'. Both twats. Wonder if Bruce fines him. He didn't 'console' him I bet, knowing Brucey. I know I bang a drum, but get a grip, RDM

Poor old Roman, no service, ran his legs off searching for the ball, got it at least once, but no-one in support in the box. The times Jara played a ball 'to him', he wasn't even where Jara had played the ball TO. No wonder he loses his rag, altho' I'm not 'consoling' him, either. That's the nature of the game when you're on your own up front, mate. BUT our 3 man, alleged 5 man, midfield isn't putting enough effort in to get up in support. Just like last year.

Having said that I enjoyed it, funnily enough. We are showing promise, and both teams didn't want to lose. We showed a bit more fight in my opinion. EPL and stopping up, though, if we reach the promised land again, forget it on this showing, I'm afraid. But, the Chumpionship is good for us, at our level of player.

Can't see we'd have gained anything by employing Irvine.