West Bromwich Albion 4 - Hull City 2

Date:	Sunday 5th July 2020
Competition:	Sky Bet Championship
WBA: 6.9	Johnstone 6.1, O'Shea 7.1, Bartley 5.4, Hegazi 7.0, Gibbs 5.9 (Townsend, 36 7.0), Sawyers 5.9 (Livermore, 62 6.4), Harper 5.8 (Diangana, 72 7.4), Grosicki 7.6, Pereira 8.5, Krovinovic 6.8 (Brunt, 72 7.5), Austin 7.2 (Robson-Kanu, 62 5.8) Unused subs: Bond, Furlong, Ajayi, Robinson Manager: Slaven Bilic 7.1
Hull: 5.5	Long, Pennington, Burke, de Wijs, Lopes, Honeyman, Stewart (Batty, 73), Wilks, Toral (Scott, 93), Samuelsen, Magennis (Eaves, 66) Unused subs: Ingram, Tafazolli, MacDonald, McLoughlin, Lewis-Potter, Jones
Scorers:	Hegazi (37), Austin (4), Grosicki (49), Diangana (76); Stewart (24), Wilks (48)
Attendance:	0

Brendan Clegg:

Brentford and Leeds kept the pressure on so this was another must-win going into the match and Bilic made the call to bring Grosicki in for Diangana who has looked a bit off the boil since the restart.

The game had hardly begun before Austin prodded us ahead with the kind of goal he was bought for and I think most of welcomed the early goal and the hope that it would force Hull out and allow us to play.

But I thought we were a bit sloppy. I think a few players took it a bit too easy for the next 20 minutes and we allowed Hull back into it - I'd say Austin, Sawyers and Grosicki got a bit casual and took their foot off. A period where a succession of set pieces were conceded and SJ in particular looked far from convincing culminated in a really poor equaliser - SJ slapping a ball he should have caught down to the penalty spot/edge of the box and Hull smashing it in. The warning signs had been there.

Thankfully we rallied a bit and took the game to them, creating enough chances to put the game to bed but still looking a bit open at the back. As the chances came and went I began to worry before Hegazi thumped a header home - although I still thought we looked vulnerable to runners in behind our midfield three.

We came out after half time lacking the necessary urgency and conceded right away - another sloppy goal where we didn't work hard enough to close down and another header.

Pereira continued to hit great passes in behind and found Grosicki with another for us to reply back with a goal almost straight away but we remained to open and after a great redeeming save from SJ, Bilic had seen enough and began bringing on players to tighten us up and take the game away from Hull.

I thought all of the subs had an impact - Livermore closed gaps we'd been regularly exposed by, HRK gave a strong cameo again playing to his strengths, Diangana seemed determined to retire 3 or 4 Hull players, beating them for fun and taking them out of the game but a special mention to Chris Brunt who managed our midfield line superbly - squeezing up on Hull, playing really sensible passes and taking control of the tempo. Diangana added a great 4th and the only blot at the end was Hegazi seeing red for a second booking.

We did enough in this one and we just need to find a way to keep doing enough but it does look like it's going to go to the last couple of games.

SJ - 6 I thought he was poor on crosses which gave Hull some momentum but made some great saves.
O'Shea - 7 Another solid aggressive game but also really tried to get the ball in early when he got chance.
Bartley - 6 I thought he looked a bit shakey and didn't have their forwards under control.
Hegazi - 6 Would have been higher but for the sending off - good goal and generally okay.
Gibbs - 6 Can see why he's been seemingly managing his running and sprints. Could well be his season over which is a big blow for us as he's got such quality.
Harper - 6 Another steady game with some good turns but should have worked the keeper more.
Sawyers - 6 On top at times, too casual at other. Generally moved it well.
Krovi - 7 Took a while to get it going with Grosicki but some great pass and moves.
Pereira - 8 Played with a lot of freedom and they couldn't cope with him as he moved off the channel to pick out passes. 3 assists but it could have been more.
Austin - 6 His goal was a tonic, then his levels dropped off but he picked it back up to help create some chances and should probably have bagged another.
Grosicki - 7 Constantly on the shoulder and causing problems. His movement was great and his goal was inevitable.

Townsend - 7 Did a decent job, possibly got caught too high up the pitch sometimes but some great play.
Livermore - 7 Still not fully at it but made us more solid.
HRK - 7 Occupied them well and got us up the pitch.
Diangana - 7 Ran rings around them, toyed with them even. Great goal.
Brunt - 8 Brought exactly the know-how and quality needed to see the game out. Led by example.