West Bromwich Albion 2 - Norwich City 1

Summary:

If you had to pick a team to end Norwich City's run of tem games without defeat, on current form Albion would not have been high up the list after one point from 12 and no goals scored for four hours. And they'd have dropped further down that list after 23 minutes when Peter Odemwingie gave away a free kick for a clumsy challenge just outside the area and Robert Snodgrass fired the free kick past the returning Ben Foster, whose face told everyone he knew he should have done better.

But a disputed corner gave Zoltan Gera the chance to level the scores after keeper Mark Bunn could only parry Jonas Olsson's header into his path.

Steve Clarke signalled his desire to win the game by playing four strikers for part of the second half, Romelu Lukaku finishing that spell by heading home a long diagonal ball from Goran Popov just before being substituted by Gabriel Tamas to shore up the back of midfield.

Not a classic Albion performance with passes going astray and too many headers giving posession straight back to the opposition, but the win was more important and lifted them back to 3rd equal on points but 6th on goal difference.

oshawabaggie:

A great result from a sometimes plodding performance. Once again we gradually gained more control as the game wore on, but it was starting to look like our posession would not yield the winner when Lukaku produced a moment of magic, a reminder to everyone why Chelsea forked out all that cash for him. Our passing was sloppy at times and without Yacob and Mulumbu, our tackling lacked bite.

Foster could have been firmer on their goal. But to keep our performance in perspective, Norwich came into the game full of confidence and unbeaten in ten games, so perhaps I am being a little harsh.

Popov looked really good again (a great ball for Lukaku's goal) and Brunt, the errm brunt of much criticism this season, did OK today I thought. As with last week, he looked to be in perfect position with a free kick on the edge of the area only to have Peter O. (last week Rosenberg) hit the ball into the wall. Is he captain or what? Well done to SC for his positive substitutions (I presume Dorrans was injured?) There is no pressure on against QPR, so I hope we really turn up with a positive, attacking frame of mind and set-up.

30 points by Christmas would have been beyond most fans expectations so, despite the poor spell, I think we can be very pleased with the way things have gone so far. A Merry Christmas to all.

Bobby Hope:

A great result and a crucial one in my opinion. Not a bad performance but not much fluidity to our play, mainly because we gave away possession too easily, too many times.

SC has to be congratulated for his bold substitutions. Having watched the game again twice on Sky I am not too sure why it was Dorrans that SC chose to replace. He literally hadn't put a foot wrong for the whole of the half and one balletic back heel gave pure joy - why he has a mark of less than 7 at the moment I just don't understand??

Brunt did well playing deeper although his tackling worries me - I think that sometimes he doesn't go in for the tackle as he knows he might be giving away a free kick, (or penalty as at Arsenal!).

McAuley had a great game with Olsson not far behind. Popove the Albion man is getting better with each game and will probably keep Ridgewell out. St Peter worked very hard and did some very good things and some awful stuff too so a bit of a mixed bag from him.

Lukaku, I know I'm being picky, needs to work more on his finishing. He failed to convert two very good chances in the first half. I know, I know he scored the winner and he is still learning his trade but I would like to see him be more clinical.

Other than that, support was a bit hit and miss due to nerves more than anything I think but in the end it all came good and we should be delighted hitting 30 points before Christmas, So well done to SC, the team and all the back up team too including Dan and Jeremy.

COYB

Baggyjon:

Most certainly the three points was more important than the performance. Norwich proved to be the most enterprising of the last three of our home opponents but our solid organised play at the back restricted them to few chances although Foster looked a tad nervous in the first twenty minutes. A ridiculous free kick given away by Odi would surely have been saved by a pre injury Foster.

The loss of Yacob and Mulumbu restricts the space for Morrison and Brunt to go forward and although our crossing was better to-day the loss of that lightening counter attack which was such a feature of the opening games of the season seems to have disapeared for the time being. S.C was bold in his decision to play 4 strikers and it paid off.

The problem is that our fantastic half season has set the bar so high that any fall of in form seems a disappointment.

I firmly believe that if we can put out a fully fit team playing with confidence we can give the Stretford Strollers a run for for their money. 5-3 perhaps?