Cardiff City 1 - West Bromwich Albion 0

Summary:

Albion's abysmal run of form continued with defeat at Cardiff City. Jonas Olsson returned from suspension and Shane Long returned as the lone striker with Victor Anichebe nowhere to be seen, while former Baggie Peter Odemwingie started up front for Cardiff alongside Fraizer Campbell.

Peter Whittingham scored the only goal of the game with a close range header from Craig Noone's cross. Albion had previously seen a shot from Gareth McAuley cleared off the line and were again refused what seemed a clear penalty when Long was hauled down in the box. They were also denied an equaliser when Long forced a superb save from David Marshall in the last few minutes.

The loss, Albion's fourth in a row, sees them sink to an alarming 16th place.

Update

Steve Clarke has been relieved of his duties and placed on gardening leave with immediate effect. More details in the news section.

Paul Gainham:

Well if the Fat Lady was gargling last week, on the back of this shocker she should be in full aria. I have run out of adjectives to describe how pitiful the club I love were today.

This was a really poor, championship level game played out by two teams who WILL be in the championship next year. Both teams were clueless in possession, bereft of any real attacking threat and neither goalkeeper was really that busy. Big difference between the two sides was that initially Cardiff came out and pressed us and we did what we do every game, we sat back and hardly touched the ball in the first 15 mins.

The game overall was almost a mirror image of the Norwich game. We are up against a poor side so we sit back. We come out second half and push more, we go a goal down and only then does Clarke make a change. And then we wonder why we lose. Pathetic.

Clarke is the archetypal rabbit in headlights. He rarely if ever makes a pro-active change / decision ? he only reacts when things are against us by which time it?s too late.

To All of the Clarke sycophants who live in a Narnia like world of ?it?s the players, not him and things will get better? let me tell you, it?s not and it won?t.

Some of us have seen this coming, most of last season and all of this, and were often ridiculed for calling for his head. The reason it was obvious then and now is that Clare has NO game plan, nothing, zilch, nada. He sends his teams out with a hope and pray approach which is utterly amateurish and he should be fired with immediate effect, albeit 6 months late.

Struck me today that the players have lost faith in him, they look ?tired?, bewildered and clueless. When that happens, you are literally on life support.

Side note: Lots of strong rumours circulating about Mulumbu joining Arsenal in January. Would not surprise me at all and I cannot blame him, he deserves MUCH better than the team / structure around him.

Player Marks

• Myhill 6 Couple of shaky moments, dont think he could do anything with their goal
• Jones 7 A bright spot again
• Ridgewell 5 No shockers this week but still incredibly limited
• Olsson 6 Steady
• McCauley 6 Steady
• Mulumbu 7 Another bright spot ? he WILL be gone in January
• Yacob 5 Slow and often not engaged
• Sessegnon 4 Tried but end product yet again woeful. Time to come out of the limelight
• Amalfitano 3 Spent most of the game ?hiding? He HAS been fouind out. Did nothing
• Brunt 3 Captain sidewards today. Poor, very poor
• Long 4 Sometimes Long looks like a disinterested championship level striker. Today was one of them.

• Berahino 4 When he comes on with 20 mins left, he always looks poor. He needs more time on the pitch
• Sinclair 5 Looked ?fizzy? but when you open the bottle, it was flat
• Vydra N/A Came on in the 87th minute. Why oh why oh why????????

Clarke 1 What can I say, if he had any honour he would resign but that wont happen so I can only hope Peace is hurting as much as I am and fires him before Monday

Referee 7 Webb is a good referee