WBA 3-2 Blackpool F.C.

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this was truly a heroic victory for the baggies. while almost always able to keep pace with whoever their competition on the day, 'wins' - and more importantly 'points' - have been hard to come by since the beginning of november and the side have looked like the struggle of the PREMIER LEAGUE might be beginning to take its toll on team confidence.

in truth, after west brom's exit from the FA CUP to CHAMPIONSHIP side reading, i rather thought that they might not be able to bounce back from what was then 6 straight losses. club captain and goalie, scott carson, looks like he's completely lost it, and the lack of spirit exhibited in the cup fixture indicated that the club might be in real trouble.

the baggies, however, proved themselves a team of exceptional character and heroic determination in what was - to date - their most important match of the season. with scott carson on the bench following a poor run of form, and jonas olsson serving a single match-ban incurred in the cup game with reading, the albion had their work cut out for them.



it's almost a joke at this point, but the baggies went behind to a david vaughn goal in the 10th minute. the albion must surely be on for setting some kind of PREMIER LEAGUE record for most points taken from games in which they have had to come back from a losing position. with rare exception, the baggies are almost always required to come from behind in order to get points from a game. i can only think of three matches which produced points where the baggies haven't had to come back from a 1 (or 2) goal deficit.

considering the two teams involved in this match it was never in danger of being a 0-0. in fact, with a 5 goal total, this match could easily have produced 8 or 9. an early miss by striker dj campbell was followed by vaughn's unstoppable long range strike in the 10th minute. the baggies were then lucky not to be 2 down when gabriel tamas, returning froma three game match-ban, badly misjudged a ball running down the line and in attempting to shepherd it into touch, allowed luke varney a clear run and free shot on goal. luckily the blackpool striker put the ball over boaz myhill's crossbar and, after a hectic opening 15 minutes, the baggies were afforded a chance to settle.

chris brunt almost put the baggies level when taking a perfect cross from jerome thomas, but was thwarted by some brilliant point-blank defending at the far post on the part of blackpool defender, stephen crainey.

the tangerines will have rued their early misses when the albion finally equalized on a peter odemwingie goal in the 36th minute. the nigerian striker, who has struggled to score while playing through a series of niggling injuries, returned to form in fine style. timing his run perfectly, odemwingie took a ball over the top from graham dorrans, beating the off-side trap and calmly slotting home past the stranded ghanaian international, richard kingson.



james morrison seems to have hit a rich vein of form as he continued to score with a goal just 6 minutes after the restart. richard kingson weakly palmed away a jerome thomas cross and the baggies' scottish international tapped the ball into an open goal to give the baggies a 2-1 lead.

the albion dominated the next 20 minutes, and in one of the most open games you'll ever see in the PREMIER LEAGUE, both odemwingie and james morrison had chances that should have seen the home side up 3 or 4-1.

gary fletcher-taylor equalized through the ever increasing pressure of the blackpool attack as the match entered its final phase. with 15 minutes to go , the blackpool striker might have thought he had produced the draw. an incisive cross from david vaughn found fletcher-taylor free at the back post and boaz myhill with no chance whatsoever.

but the baggies needed this win badly and odemwingie again scored in the 86th minute on a long-ball from gonzalo jara. the nigerian got the bounce as the right-back's long pass went into the blackpool penalty area, and wrestling free from his marker put the ball low and into the net at kingson's left-hand corner.

some desperate defending was required to preserve the win, but it was the baggies day and was only justice that the albion should take all 3 points from this one after the travesty at bloomfield road back in november which set the baggies onto a poor run of form after a good start to the season.



with this important win, the baggies are now about 15 points short of what they'll need to assure survival in the PREMIER LEAGUE. with important matches coming up against blackburn (away) and wigan (home), and the imminent return of jonas olsson, the baggies came through what was their biggest challenge of the season so far wih maximum points. this team certainly has the character to make out alright this year and 4 points from the next couple of matches will see the baggies well back on course. i only hope they can meet the challenges ahead with similar success.