West Bromwich Albion 1 - Reading 0

Date:	Saturday 22nd September 2012
Competition:	Barclays Premier League
WBA: 6.8	(4-2-3-1) Foster 7.2, Jones 5.6, McAuley 7.4, Olsson 7.9, Ridgewell 6.8, Mulumbu 6.9, Yacob 7.1, Gera 6.0 (Dorrans, 70 6.8), Morrison 7.4 (Long, 65 7.0), Brunt 5.7, Lukaku 7.5 (Rosenberg, 78 6.0) Unused subs: Myhill, Jara Reyes, Dawson, Fortun Manager: Steve Clarke 7.2
Reading: 5.1	(4-4-2) McCarthy, Gunter (Robson-Kanu, 80), Gorkss, Pearce, Shorey, McAnuff, Guthrie, Leigertwood, McCleary, Le Fondre, Pogrebnyak (Hunt, 69) Unused subs: Taylor, Karacan, Mariappa, Church, Cummings
Scorers:	Lukaku (71)
Referee:	Chris Foy (St Helens) 6.6
Attendance:	23,854 Home Fans 6.5 Away Fans 4.8

Summary:

It was a sure case of never mind the quality, feel the width as Albion struggled to overcome a stubborn Reading side - but overcome them they did, thanks to Romelu Lukaku's 71st minute strike from substitute Shane Long's header.

With Peter Odemwingie suspended for three games following his red card at Fulham, and Steve Clarke apparently unwilling to play Long against his former club, the door was open for Lukaku to make his mark, starting as the lone striker with both Chris Brunt and Zoltan Gera recalled. But despite bossing the game throughout, it took Long's introduction in place of James Morrison after 65 minutes to give them the cutting edge.

Albion move back up to a highly respectable third place with ten points from five games, already a quarter of the way to the magic 40.

Paul Gainham:

Not a great performance, I guess one of those when the result mattered more than the actual performance itself. Did the 3 changes of bringing Brunt, Gera and Lukaku unsettle us a little as for most of the game we looked a little unsure / uncertain.

Worryingly Mulumbu had a poor game again often making the wrong decision or getting caught in possession. Jones still looks a weak link in our defense, Reid would be a better option but even then it's still a concern, not sure if Popov can play there.

Again Clarke was not afraid to make changes when needed which I really do like about him.

The thing we lacked most of all today IMO was a pacey winger to spread the play a bit more and give Lukaku the service he will thrive on. El Ghanassy would be the obvious option but he does not appear to be getting a look in - I wonder if Clarke does not rate him?

Onto the Vile next week we need to be more disciplined and assured then we were yesterday but I think we can get something there.

Bobby Hope:

Well, can't complain. Great result and a decent performance I thought. McDermott clearly sorted Reading out after last week's fiasco at Spurs and they looked less vulnerable. It always looked like one goal would nick the result and so it came to pass (no pun intended). And another clean sheet! Great record at the Shrine so far.

Lukaku is a menace but even more so when not alone up front so fair play to SC for astute substitutions (again). He was criticised by some folk for not controlling the through ball from Mozza but actually it was a bad ball from the otherwise excellent Morrison. Had he just pushed it onto the space ahead of Lukaku it would have been difficult to miss.

Billy is still a concern to me. Great professional and fit as a fiddle but he is shaky when players go at him - jury is still out and I hope he makes it as he's a good lad.

We have strength in depth and all players in the squad understand their roles. I would have liked to see 2 up top yesterday as I think it would have put immediate pressure on a shaky, unconfident Reading defence BUT I'm not complaining! What do I know?

Great start to the season and had St Peter not dipped his toe into the inferno that is Hades last week we might have had a point or two more. Why do I say I'm not complaining and then complain?

Onwards and Upwards! COYB!!