The Diary

03 March 2008: Upwards And Onwards, Now We've Had Our Own Little Blip, And Conquered It?

Was it really my imagination, or did I hear distinct sounds of 22,000-odd Baggie folk exhaling a massed sigh of relief, come Saturday?s final whistle in our game versus Plymouth? Well, if not, there should have been: that victory had much more about it than some casual observers might have appreciated. In a game that was, essentially, fourth versus fifth in the table, we?d ended up victorious, and with real panache, once all comeback worries were finally dispelled with that third strike from Bednar.

It might well be that we?ve turned the corner, finally. A little late in the day, it has to be admitted, but yesterday?s was certainly a significant victory, in anyone?s language. Think about it: all the other sides in the frame have had to endure indifferent spells at various stages of the season, and Watford provides the best example of the lot. When their Promotion Special seemingly hit the buffers, around Christmas time, I?d been prepared to write them off completely - but, nope. New Year, new-found impetus for them to improve, it would seem.

Can we now go on to emulate the Vicarage Road mob?s admirable example by building further upon the good work done this weekend, adding yet another vital three points to our collection, come Tuesday night? A quick look at the current table shows that quite frankly, Sheffield Wednesday are in a complete and utter state of disarray. And their bloodless weekend bore-draw with Barnsley didn?t exactly have their followers clamouring to head for the Hillsbrough turnstiles, either.

As if tenancy of that particular Championship ?Siege Perilous?, the third relegation slot, wasn?t enough, I?m now given to understand that the multiplicity of problems they currently face are primarily financial in origin. Get a result there, and we can justifiably go into the forthcoming Bristol Rovers FA Cup caper ?cooking on gas?, and as excited as hell.

Think about it. Elsewhere in the top six, Charlton, currently occupying the slot below us, take on table-toppers Bristol City, so an altruistic sharing of the points might be favourite, there. Bloody Stoke? Curiously, they don?t appear to have a game scheduled for either Tuesday or Wednesday nights respectively. Something to do with Sunday?s abortive QPR clash, where, down to ten following the sending off of one of their mob they should have endured versus our lot ? at long last: a strong referee in charge of one of their games. Hallelujah! - they conceded three goals, maybe?

Watford, currently in the slot just above ours, entertain mid-table Norwich City: on paper, a Vicarage Road victory might well be expected, but that might not necessarily be the case. The principal joy of football lies in the very fact that final scores don?t necessarily reflect what theoretical science predicts the outcome for any given game to be. Our Wembley end-of-season disaster versus Derby is a prime example of the sort of completely unexpected horror Lady Luck can toss at you so capriciously, when she?s in a suitably-murderous frame of mind.

Sixth place Ipswich Town, currently occupying the play-off berth just beneath Charlton?s? They?ll entertain a badly-underachieving Blades side. As for the side we trashed on Saturday, they?re at home to currently-bottom Colchester United: not much joy to be had there, from our particular perspective, it would seem at first sight, but Colchester will be as desperate as hell to get something from that one. And desperate creatures, whether animal or human, certainly pose the considerable threat of lashing out quite unexpectedly when cornered. Quite a lot of potential gain to be had from Tuesday?s Hillsbrough trip, then.

But, Watford apart, the one thing I?ve really found unusual about the current season is this: in our division, it?s about par for the course to see at least one complete nonentity come up on the blind side of the promotion race, then go on to completely puncture their anticipated League positional ceiling by running things right down to the wire, at the very least. Crystal Palace, whose surge up the table from bottom three position, around the Yuletide of our second promotion season, took them right into the play-offs, from where they subsequently emerged top-dog, provide an example par excellence, of course.

This time round, we?ve seen no less than two unfancied outfits do precisely the same thing, with the existing top six taken completely by storm as a result. It truly is a ?Tale Of Two Cities?, that of both Bristol (divisional ?new boys?, which makes the feat all the more remarkable, for all that: look at the way they saw off Hull City, a side we most certainly couldn?t), and bloody Stoke, of course, but totally lacking the obligatory (but messy) guillotine scenes as penned by Dickens. Unless you want to count the complete and utter dog?s breakfast the Potties made of us at the Britannia Stadium, earlier in the current season, of course.

Don?t knock it, mind. Forgetting a seeming resurgence in involvement in such contentious issues for the moment, having lesser-lights chip in means two things. Firstly, it?s as if someone with an industrial-size fresh-air blower in their possession has finally flicked the switch to ?ON?, and by doing so, blown away completely the vast majority of the cobwebs pervading sides attempting to emulate our standard of play.

Secondly, it?s always good to see new sides do far better than expected; that means sides like ours have little option but to get their act together when pitching against the Robins and Potties of this world. As we?ve seen in the Prem, it?s not a desirable development at all when you can almost put money on what the final placings will pan out to be, and well before the season starts, too.

Hearty congratulations directed towards Kev Phillips, our bus pass-eligible striker, are very much in order, right now. Our Methuselah-equivalent hero?s gone and done it for the Baggies, again. Not by completely spoiling the day of some poor sod of an opposing keeper, as is his more usual wont, but by grabbing Four-Four-Two football magazine?s Player Of The Year Award for 2008.

You might also care to remember that this is an honour gained two years in a row, for us: this time last season, it was Jason Koumas making the same trip to London?s Park Lane Hotel, and picking up the very desirable bit of silverware with which to grace his personal trophy cabinet, if only for just the 12 month period covered by that award.

On Monday evening, I?ll be looking more closely at our prospects of coming away from Hillsbrough with much-needed smiles wrapped around all those cute little facial muscles we so rarely exercise, these days. By then, we should all have a much better idea of how serious the injury to Tex will prove to be. The latest from the club is that Tex, on crutches after the game, you?ll not be too surprised to learn, is to have a scan on his gammy knee, but Mogga?s gut feeling, along with that of his medical people, seems to lean towards the extent of the problem being but a mere ?something and nothing? thing. In any case, we should have adequate cover, in the unlikely event of the scan revealing more than we?d really like to find.

Plus current progress on our forthcoming move to what Bruce Bairnsfather, famous World War One cartoonist, and one actually serving on the Western Front, at that, would have rightly called ?A Better ?Ole?, as per the dictum of his equally-famous long-serving soldier-character ?Old Bill?, always looking to improve his creature-comforts, but made weary of years engaged in the dangerous tedium of trench warfare, viz: ?If you sees a better ?ole, then go to it??.

And Finally?.. One. Belated recognition of the many talents our players have to offer also comes with that of a nasty little trick our football club seems to be trying to sneak in under the radar of both League and Cup success, right now. Anyone else spotted the announcement in Saturday?s programme that Albion will be charging a quid?s worth of booking fee extra to the price of any tickets purchased, very soon?

Blimey, I?d never realised before that the very process of tapping but a few keys on one?s PC could be so profitable: might be the motivation I?m looking for to give up my current day job plying my wares at the back of Rackhams, and become a respectable Albion employee instead! Not so much expenditure on those all-essential fishnet tights and condoms, for one thing.

Two?. This one comes from The Noise?. Anyone else out there clocked the fact that Preston North End, currently enjoying ?Baggies Bogey Club? status, along with The Potties, and Barnsley, away, haven?t lost a night game played on a Tuesday for an amazing SEVEN YEARS? Could be bad news indeed for Leicester City, due to entertain the bottom-four Lancashire side in less than 48 hours time.

 - Glynis Wright

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