of course, this is another game that i didn't get to see - not because there was no broadcast (which there wasn't live); but because the game wasn't shown until the next day - and at a time that i would be out; also, with the playoffs making for a good amount of televised live football this week, it rather looks like that will be my only chance to see it. i just hope SETANTA CANADA needs to fill some football time this week and squeezes in a second repeat. that sometimes happens...
even at that, it was a great joy to follow, even on just the BBC live text:
live text replay
delighted that the baggies scored first - and fortune, i thought really deserved to score after the way he's been playing lately; and of course, i was suspicious that everyone was just cranking up the same old tune when wigan equalized. but when brunt scored from the penalty i knew it was going to be the albion's day. when the 3rd goal went in i was ecstatic as i now knew that a second great escape had suddenly opened up for the baggies, quite fortunately and ultimately unexpectedly.
"C"MON YOU BAGGIES!!!"
the tough one here - in fact the toughest test in the whole lot would seem to be the liverpool game on the weekend. any result from that is all that's needed. although, i find an irony in this match, in that albion will absolutely need to put an end to liverpool's title contention; and liverpool will - with equal urgency - need to put west brom out of the league. it is potentially as dramatic a match as i can remember. of course, it does well to remember that it could all be over for liverpool by the the time of sunday's kick off; just as a hull or newcastle win would finish the baggie's aspirations. luckily, it doesn't look like there's one of those in sight, and i really think that it is much more likely that liverpool will be the one's showing up with only second-place to play for. the baggie's intention will more than likely remain unwaivering with hull away to bolton and newcastle home to an on-form and superior fulham side the day before.
with the last match at blackburn, the rovers have only the sake of entertaining the home crowd and professionalism to play for; the baggies might still have premiership survival to be playing for. so it's not crucial who wins - or if anybody wins, for that matter - the tyne-tees derby, because the baggies will need 35 points to stay up, at this point anyway. but that would have to be the last result that either hull, newcastle or middlesbrough can produce in any of their last two games... 2 draws, 1 win and 6 losses - not impossible!
Posting After Tyne-Tees
i have waited, however, until after the tyne-tees derby - which saw newcastle out of the bottom 3 and sank hull into it - before posting this article. a draw would have sat better with me, but the newcastle victory reminded me that it's not enough to go for a draw with liverpool and hope that we can take it to a last game. we're going to have to go for a win as if it were any other team.
the greatest irony in the last two games is that the baggies may be playing at home against a liverpool team that has already lost the title, and an away against a blackburn side playing for the sake of the fans, professionalism and a good final show for the season. if indeed, manchester united have already won the title by the time that liverpool and albion have kicked off on sunday, it is the away game against the rovers that may very well be the more perilous of the two - and is the factor that would make it the not only a great escape, but the greatest escape. as the years have told us - and excluding the all-defiant capabilities of the so-called "big four" - an away game for anyone on the last day of the season is likely to be a rough ride no matter who the opposition.
i had stated in a previous blog that i thought that tony mowbray had finally found the team that would have seen the baggies clear to survival. the gaffer said pretty much the same thing himself, after the wigan game. i did hope that he would find that balance within the last 10 games of the season instead of leaving down to the last 4. but in all fairness, TM has had as hard a year as any manager in the premier league. to have to work on new team formations with a 21 year old leading the line was a challenge that took half the season to get right; and five minutes after it all starts to come together and months of baffling management strategies are suddenly coalescing in an evident and tangible manner, his main striker is hurt and out for the season. it was like working on something all year and then suddenly and unexpectedly having to change direction with precious little resources from which to draw.
while the albion have showed that beautiful football can be a very fragile proposition at best, and have endured heartbreak all season, it is definite credit to them that they can have showed as much spirit as they are showing at the moment. anyone else else would have had any residual character long since squeezed dry - as hull city is now showing us.
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