WBA 2-1 Fulham F.C.

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the baggies have survived - and actually taken impressive points from - what can only be described as a period of "bonus" opportunities, from which no-one really expected too much and any gains made, at all, would be counted as success. west bromwich albion now enter a series of matches which will be seen as an essential source of necessary points, and much more important in the overall scheme of things than a set of seemingly (and at their outset) next-to-impossible away fixtures against the top clubs in the country.

at the start of league play in august, and from looking at the fixtures list, this is the time of year where everyone would have expected the season to really be starting for the baggies. so to have made a good start in the league is not only a surprise, but a major accomplishment and important points garnered that precious few were expecting.

in fact, the baggies have exceeded the wildest of expectations and for a few hours on saturday night/sunday morning of this past weekend, at least, they sat it in fourth place overall behind chelsea, manchester city and tottenham hotspur. they are playing some of the best football in the league and are arguably the league's "form" team over the last two months.



after the exploits of recent weeks, the albion faithful have finally started to warm to roberto di matteo; which, is something that has been curiously long in coming. even with the success of last season and his superb preparation and signings for the upcoming top-flight campaign, the ex-chelsea midfielder and MK dons boss may have finally eclipsed the likes of bryan robson and tony mowbray in the hearts of the albion faithful, but he has a few games to win yet before he'll be as well regarded and esteemed as gary megson, who is still seen as the man who built the modern club's on-field character, and laid the foundations for subsequent claims to premiership football.

after the manchester united match, i started to imagine how di matteo - who was a well respected professional that played league and international football at its highest level - may one day eclipse his achievements as a player and go on to become one of football's great managers.

"good managers make good sides," brian clough once explained, "there's no such thing as a side making a manager."

what has been true of the albion this season, is that every game has been superbly managed. the gaffer has been adventurous when he's needed to be and he's made good decisions with both the team and the tactics. not only that, but he seems to have an especially good rapport with the players and is a gaffer for whom most players would really want to play - as well as feel encouraged to do so. there's more than a few members of the team who were languishing in the reserves or perpetually stuck on the bench who were immediately switched on by his arrival at the club; where under tony mowbray they'd been unhappy, under played and in some cases, wanting to leave.



as the albion seem to have done for the last 50 years or so, they went behind in this one with less than nine minutes played. ex-baggie, zoltan gera, found himself with time and space, setting up a clear shot at goal from 25 yards out, following a poor mistake by youssouf mulumbu, giving the ball away in a dangerous area. while a diving scott carson got a hand to the ball, managing to push it onto the post, it rebounded unkindly for the west brom captain and bounced into the net off the back of his leg.

appropriately, the hungarian international and ex-hathorns favourite diplomatically waved away any goal celebration in remembering the four years that he spent as a very popular first-team player at west brom.

the baggies came close to going two goals behind a couple of minutes later, as a poor back-pass was pounced on by another ex-albion favourite, diomansy kamara, but the fulham striker shot just wide.

eight minutes after the opening goal, however, mulumbu made up for his earlier mistake to bring the baggies level. uncharacteristically the congolese midfielder went forward in attack and took a superb through ball from chris brunt that completely split the fulham defence and the baggies were back on level terms as marc schwarzer was left stranded without a chance and mulumbu with his first PREMIER LEAGUE goal.

true to form, the baggies took the lead before half-time as a second albion player also got his name onto the score-sheet for the first time this season.



west brom went ahead on marc-antoine fortune's first goal of the season, but not without some controversy. fortune was clearly in an off-side position when the ball was played in. however, the french striker had turned away from the play to move back onside, leaving the ball to run on for albion left-winger, jerome thomas. thomas cut in along the bi-line and with the fulham defence once again caught square, he sent the ball back across the face of goal for - the now onside - fortune to slot home.

predictably, the legitimacy of both goals was questioned by fulham boss, mark hughes. however, neither goal was inconsistant with how the off-side rule is being interpreted or applied this season. so i think neither was really as contentious as the welshman would have us believe.

the albion now have a nine day break from league football, with a LEAGUE CUP 5th round match with leicester city at the walkers stadium on tuesday. the baggies are firm favourites to take a place in the quarter finals from this fixture.

with a trip to bloomfield road a week monday - and full live international TV coverage - both blackpool and west brom will have a chance of showing a larger audience the quality of their football; and with both of last year's fixtures seeing west brom produce a pair of 3-2 victories (including a contentious penalty decision), the tangerines - and manager, ian holloway - will feel the need to be playing for a little retribution. it should be great fun and good football!