Aston Villa F.C. 1-1 WBA

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as one of the oldest and most significant derbies in english football, there is always much local anticipation for this fixture. however, with both clubs having travelled quite a different trajectory over the last 30 years, it never quite achieves the intensity of either the second-city derby (villa v blues) or the black country derby (west brom v wolves), and has become more a measure of each club's respective status than anything else.


after a mutually mediocre spell of form in the late 1960s and early 1970s, that saw aston villa relegated to the 3rd division and the baggies stuck for several seasons in the 2nd tier, both sides were finishing top 5 in the league by the end of the decade. the villa, of course, won the league in 1980-81, followed by a historic EUROPEAN CUP final victory over bayern munich the following year. the baggies managed a 3rd place league finish in 1978-79 and were knocked out of the UEFA CUP on a late goal by red star belgrade in the 2nd leg of the quarter-final.

while neither side have ever reached these same dizzying heights since, the villa did manage to win a couple of LEAGUE CUP titles in the 1990s, and in becoming founding members of the PREMIER LEAGUE in 1992-93 were runners-up to manchester united in its inaugural season.

that same year, the baggies found themselves clawing their way out of the 3rd division (recently renamed FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION 2) through a play-off final against port vale. this was followed, however, by a decade of struggle, avoiding relegation and consolidating mediocrity as a mid-table side in the 2nd tier.


while aston villa are one of only 7 clubs to have played in every season of the PREMIER LEAGUE, west brom did not manage to qualify for the top-flight again until 2002-03. it would take the baggies another decade before the possibility of competing in the PREMIER LEAGUE on a consistent basis would again materialize.

when the baggies defeated their closest geographical rivals at villa park in october of last year by a score of 2-1, it was three decades since the black country side had claimed a 1-0 victory in an away fixture of the LEAGUE CUP on january 19th, 1982.

the albion have actually dominated this fixture following 2008-09 when they lost both league matches by a score of 2-1 and were relegated again after a single season. but in 2110-11, following an early own goal on a scuffed clearance by albion defender, abdoulaye meite, the baggies fought back to beat the villa 2-1 at the hawthorns.

with albion's victory at villa park last year, the two other most recent occasions that these sides have met have produced draws. there was a decidedly lacklustre 0-0 result at the hawthorns towards the end of last season, and the villa avoided losing at home to the albion for a second season running through darren bent's late equalizer in this year's villa park encounter.

after going in at the break without either side having found the breakthrough, shane long put the visitors ahead in the 52nd minute after having a goal called back for off-side only a couple of minutes before. james morrison, breaking down the right flank, put in a perfect low cross that turned the villa defence inside out and left long to run onto a tap-in in the 6-yard box.



while it was honours even on the score-sheet, the baggies came away from this particular encounter more the worse for wear. club captain, chris brunt, pulled up with a hamstring injury and was replaced by graham dorrans in the 39th minute. while albion's trouble with the right-back position continued as billy jones came off with a knee injury just before the half, replaced by romanian defender, gabriel tamas.

the two sides will meet again at the hawthorns in january.

WBA 1-2 Liverpool F.C.

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while gabriel tamas' goal in the 3rd minute gave every indication that the baggies would progress easily enough to the next round of the LEAGUE CUP against what was unquestionably the least experienced line-up that liverpool has ever fielded in senior level competition, nuri sahin's superb individual effort in the 16th minute set the stage for what seemed, in the end, a surprising comeback.



here in canada, the state of broadcast football (TV and radio) changes yearly. this year, while there is expanded coverage of the english top-flight as well as the UEFA and EUROPA leagues, there is no more coverage of any other domestic league football; and with the apparent demise of EUROWORLD SPORTS, i have seen no english language broadcasts of LIGUE 1 either.

the cup competitions have traditionally changed broadcaster from year to year. for example, in 2005-06, the FA CUP was shown exclusively on FOX SPORTSWORLD CANADA; and another year, it was exclusive to TSN (canadian ESPN affiliate). SETANTA SPORTS (now taken over by SPORTSNET) even used have a weekly BLUE SQUARE PREMIER LEAGUE match!!! but the LEAGUE CUP doesn't seem to get any coverage here until the quarter-finals.

because it was impossible to get any west bromwich albion radio broadcasts streamed online in north america, since 2009-10 i have subscribed to ALBION PLAYER, a service that supplies live audio commentary of all west brom matches and posts video highlights, as well as news items and interviews in video format. most clubs in both the PREMIER LEAGUE and FOOTBALL LEAGUE provide the service, and transmissions for all matches from the CHAMPIONSHIP down are available through signing in to a single site. for the PREMIER LEAGUE games you have to be signed in to a specific club website. however, the subscription allows for access to all participating club sites and it is only the really big clubs who ignore the service altogether or run their own subscription schemes unique to the club's official site.


however, while i did listen to this match live on the ALBION PLAYER, no video highlights were offered on the site. i did eventually find a 9 minute video posted in several places on the internet.

with gates for both major cup competitions severely down at the top-clubs - and in these days of the season ticket culture - with increased importance placed on success in the league, i would have thought that perhaps international TV revenues would help the situation out. this doesn't, however, seem to be the case. apparently, the TV markets here in north america have even less interest in broadcasting games from the LEAGUE CUP competition than the general football attending public has for actually going to watch them live at the stadium.

due to the good start that the baggies have had in the league this season - and the fact that the opposition was one of the country's biggest clubs - they did attract a gate of 21,164 for this particular fixture. this is 4 or 5 thousand more than one might expect for a cup game at this stage of the competition. however - and despite steve clarke's stated goal of a cup run for the albion this year - the team folded in the second-half. despite being the stronger side, it seemed that as the game wore on the baggies were taking it all a bit for granted and a much anticipated second goal never materialized. ultimately it seemed that their hearts just weren't in it and a really cohesive passing move by the reds set up the winning goal for nuri sahin in the 83rd minute.

WBA 1-0 Reading F.C

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with peter odemwingie's moment of madness in the away fixture to fulham, which saw the nigerian striker shown a red card and incurring the standard three match ban, the baggies once again showed the strength of depth in the current squad. deferring to the time honoured practice of not starting key players against their old clubs, romelu lukaku was preferred as the lone striker over the in form shane long and the remarkably improved marc-antoine fortune.



the royals have been a bit of a bogey team for the baggies over the last few seasons: knocking them out of the FA CUP two years running, as well as splitting the points with them in their league fixtures - both home and away - during the promotion season of 2009-10. despite both of their recent and respective histories of top-flight promotions (and due to their subsequent relegations) this was the first time the two sides had ever faced each other in the PREMIER LEAGUE.

while the baggies have had their best start in the top-flight in three decades, the royals have not been so lucky. despite playing some good football going forward, reading haven't been so good defensively and are yet to record their first victory in the league. they arrived at the hawthorns with only a single point - claimed in their opening day fixture, a 1-1 draw at home to stoke city - to show for their first five games.

while there was the possibility that west brom could go top of the league with a win, reading were pretty much guaranteed that a loss would leave them sitting bottom of the table.

to their credit, the royals held out for 70 minutes in a match in which they were clearly clearly second best. james morrison continued his recent fine form coming close on a couple of occasions inside the first half-hour.



in the 8th minute, reading keeper, alex mccarthy, was forced into a diving, finger-tip save as west brom's scottish international found himself with enough room to move into space and set up a shot from the edge of the penalty area. in the 28th minute, morrison again created an even better opportunity through some good inter-passing with zoltan gera in the reading box, but dragged his shot just wide of the far post.

in the dying moments of the first-half, on loan striker, romalu lukaku, saw the first of several good chances as he got in behind the reading defenders to recieve a well placed ball from morrison as he was bearing down on the reading 6-yard box. however, his first touch was heavy and was only able to win the corner. the ensuing delivery by chris brunt was headed onto the post by jonas olsson as the baggies began to turn the screw and looked the more likely of the two sides.

james morrison had yet another good opportunity to score in the 55th minute. alex pearce's clearance from a chris brunt ball looped into the area fell straight to morrison, whose first time volley forced another sharp save from the alex mccarthy. it was the midfielder's best effort of the afternoon.

to be fair, it was not a particularly great game of football and there wasn't a lot between the two sides with scoring opportunities repeatedly lost or wasted and west brom having the better of what chances there were. the one notable exception being gareth mccleary's attempt at the spectacular with a powerful and accurate bicycle kick early on in the game. fortunately it was hit straight at a sure handed ben foster and proved no troble for the baggies. the royals really only had one other obvious opportunity, when substitute, robson-kanu, headed over foster's cross-bar in the final minutes.



the winning goal was scored by romalu lukaku in the 70th minute. steve clarke made two substutions and changed the attacking formation to include two strikers. with shane long replacing james morrison and graham dorrans coming on for zoltan gera the gaffer's tactics paid immediate dividends.

from a baggies free-kick launched forward by ben foster, chris brunt initiated an albion attack on the reading penalty area. the final move came from a ball played into the box by dorrans. long won the header to knock down for lukaku, and the young belgian showed his patience and skill, pushing the ball onto his favoured left foot and slotting home from the top of the area.

in the end, though, and the simple truth of the matter is that the baggies are now in the habit of winning and getting results no matter what the circumstance. they are winning games on average performances as well as those in which they are playing their best football. and that is the hallmark of a top side.

Fulham F.C. 3-0 WBA

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as i was distracted by planning yet another trip to england (including an excursion to the hawthorns on october 6th to see west brom play QPR) i've gotten several weeks behind on my blogging. also, there's really very little positive that can be said about this performance by the baggies - other than it was not quite as one sided a match as the result would indicate.

fulham found the albion defensive weaknesses by attacking down the flanks and taking advantage of the fullbacks through both pace and transitional positioning of the wide players in the albion back-line. the londoners also had the all important advantage of an in form dmitar berbatov in front of goal demonstrating that he is a top international striker. for the baggies, however, it was just one of those days that is best forgotten. their opponents on the day found enough in the early going and west brom never really had a chance to find form.

the real turning point of the game, though, was peter odemwingie being shown a red card in the 38th minute. at his point - and barring a miracle - the albion had irretrievably lost the plot. unfortunately, miracles are all but outlawed in the almighty, bloody PREMIER LEAGUE. while it was a stupid and cynical momentary lapse in judgement, it's worth remembering that the nigerian international very rarely loses it like this and he probably deserves some leeway in light of the fact that he almost single-handedly led the baggies to a 12th place finish in the league two years ago by virtue of 15 goals scored in the league.


after the first defeat of the current campaign, all the albion can do now is not let the loss affect them. steve clarke and his side must put it out of their minds and get on with thinking about the next league fixture, where taking all three points at home to reading would continue to lay the groundwork for what has been their otherwise fine form. winning at the hawthorns should be the baggies' main priority at the moment.

it's a measure of how far west brom have come these least three seasons that there isn't a sense of panic about the fact that odemwingie will not be available for the next three competetive fixtures. two seasons ago this would have been a genuine catastrophe and baggies supporters everywhere would have been left wondering where the goals would be coming from in the nigerian striker's absence. it's a no small indication as to how far the squad has come in terms of the depth of player personel since their promotion from the CHAMPIONSHIP and should be a real point of pride for all west brom supporters.

WBA 2-0 Everton F.C.

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of the four competitive games that the baggies have played in the new season so far, this was the one that i feared most. everton had looked very good in beating manchester united on opening day and i despaired that getting a good result - even at home - might be a fixture too far.

but then, this is starting to look like a very good baggies side. so good, in fact, that they are performing much closer to the standards of albion teams of the 1960s and 70s than at any time since. the foundations for a good long run of top-flight league football has been established and we can only hope that improvements continue and the chairman and directors do not deviate from the present course.



nobody who was at wembley on may 30, 1993 - the day that the baggies started to pull themselves out of the mire of what was the worst period in the club's history - could've imagined that with promotion back to the newly christened FOOTBALL LEAGUE division one, followed by years of mid-table struggles against relegation and generally mediocre league performances, they would ever see the baggies competing successfully in the top-flight again.

while other clubs who have seen recent (and relative) success in the PREMIER LEAGUE and/or domestic cup competitions, have all too often been unable to avoid the increasingly common peril of "double relegation" (i.e. portsmouth, norwich city, charlton athletic, sheffield united, coventry city, etc.) before making their way back up, the baggies have flip-flopped ("yo-yoed") between the CHAMPIONSHIP and PREMIER LEAGUE always able to keep their core players while making steady, incremental improvements to the side. this year's top-flight campaign marks the first time in a decade that west brom have been in the same division for more than two years running.



it was another impressive display of all-round football by the baggies at home to a top-class everton side. where under the leadership of roy hodgson, west brom depended on the quality of their defending and counter-attack, steve clarke has them playing a more complete style that can both keep clean sheets and score goals.

the new gaffer has employed very different tactics between how he has his side play at home and how he sets them up for away matches. i'm sure that this will vary when considering the opposition in any particular fixture, but it does seem that he generally wants his team to establish its defensive shape first and let the game come to them through frustrating the opposition's attackers rather than have them force the issue. this was particularly true of the away fixture at tottenham, where spurs were allowed a massive advantage of possession throughout the first half, before the albion started to press and were easily the better team and well on top going into the final stages of the contest.

while steve clarke was quick to bring in the additional strikers that he saw as being essential to the albion's progression as a top flight side, claudio yacob has been a revelation in the holding midfield role. yacob's defending and distribution has not only been solid in itself, but has also improved the play of youssouf mulumbu, who has been in what is arguably the best form of his career since coming to the hawthorns. yacob's quality as a defender was clearly illustrated as the game approached the 17 minute mark and the argentine international went into a challenge with nikica jelavic in the baggies' penalty area.



while jelavic went over in the tackle quite dramatically, and the toffees were quick to appeal for a penalty, the replay showed that yacob had clearly gotten to the ball first. the ensuing clearance allowed the baggies to break in attack. however, marc antoine fortune's effort from the edge of the everton box, on a ball played back up the inside left channel from the dead-ball line by shane long, went well over the cross-bar. it was an incisive display of west brom's ability as a counter-attacking team.

everton had plenty of the ball throughout the first half-hour of the match and certainly had the beter of the possession. but it was the albion who created the first real effort on goal. with shane long finding space in the box through some slack marking on the part of the everton defenders, his powerful header from a liam ridgewell cross came smacking back off tim howard's crossbar.

the toffee's responed on the next possession as merouane fellaini was afforded a similar opportunity at the other end. the big belgian, however, wasn't able to get sufficiently underneath the cross and the ball looped inches over the bar at the far post. the toffee's created another good opportunity less than ten minutes later, as a well worked move down the right flank ended in a tame header by nikica jelavic from a steve naismith cross which was easily gathered up by ben foster. the visitor's would not see as good a chance at goal again until well into the second half.



james morrison has flourished in the first few games - continuing the fine form that he found last season - and has been key to the attacking link up play in midfield. the scottish international came close to scoring in the 44th minute with a stinging right foot shot from only 7 or 8 yards out; but a great reflex save from tim howard saw that the score-line remained 0-0 at the half.

as in their two previous league games, the baggies began to press the ball increasingly higher up the pitch, which began to create chances where the toffees had only been frustrated. the baggies finally went ahead in the 64th minute as shane long used his pace and strength to get the better of sylvain distin and get on the end of an inch perfect cross by peter odemwinge from deep down the outside left channel.

continuing to press in the everton half, the baggies created a shot for youssouf mulumbu from about 15 yard out that required a top class save from keeper, tim howard. but there was nothing the american could do on the ensuing corner, as gareth mcauley got on the end of an excellent chris brunt delivery to put the contest beyond question.

invariably there will be tougher tests and perhaps some leaner times for the albion as the season progresses. however, a good result in one game... there's always the possibility that it's just a "one-off". two good results and people start to pay attention. three good results and there's the possibility that you've really got a good side. going into this season, it's starting to look like west brom really are a good side.

league play resumes with the baggies away to fulham on the 15th.

Yeovil Town F.C. 2-4 WBA

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with no TV, or even video highights (at the time of writing), this was old fashioned cup football listened to through a radio broadcast (also streamed live on the internet) and seen only in some action photography on the club websites and in the mainstream press.

it was a great reminder that when the modern day, life and death factors of league football, with its concerns of promotion/relegation, seasons tickets sales, investment finances, sponsorship revenues, as well as big TV and media revenues are not a primary focus, football can still actually be fun - even in a major competition.



and that's exactly what we got as the baggies travelled to perrenial lower-league over-achievers, yeovil town, in the second round of this year's LEAGUE CUP.

steve clarke made no less than ten changes to the side that had drawn away to tottenham on the weekend, with shane long the only player to maintain his place in the starting 11.

true to form - and in ironic fashion - the somerset club went ahead in the 14th minute through a goal by ex-baggie, reuben reid. having won a free kick in the albion half, a good delivery by edward upson offered reid the chance to take advantage of some slack marking by craig dawson and gabriel tamas and head the glovers into the lead, much to the delight of the home support. however, it was still much too early in the day to entertain any notions of a major upset.

this, of course, made for a tense 25 minutes before chris brunt, making his first start since being injured last year, scored one of the best goals of his career. the baggies' captain hit a screamer from a full 40 yards out that sailed into yeovil goal to draw the albion level.



within minutes shane long, jockeying to keep his place as a starter for this coming saturday, netted the first of a brace that he would score on the night, in injury time just before the half. i wondered why i had ever been worried about anything at all.

but this game had some bite left in it yet. within three minutes of the re-start, reuben reid scored the second of his brace and quite worryingly we were level again and i was uneasily forced to recall west brom's second-round fixture of three years ago, when rotherham united took them into extra-time. it was simon cox' first competitive goal that won that particular tie by a score of 4-3.

the contest had once again grown tense as boaz myhill needed to make a couple of really good saves, again from reuben reid, to keep his side in the match. finally, in the 73rd minute, new signing, yassine el ghanassy, scored his first goal for the club to put the baggies ahead to stay.

approaching the 81st minute, shane long smacked a shot from 15 yards out that flew into the top left hand corner of marek stech's goal and registered a solid win after some shakey defending throughout on the part of the baggies.



still and all it was good fun and all the more enjoyable as the albion have changed the format of their online radio streams for this season. albion player, the subscription service that provides live audio streams and video highlights through the club website, are picking up the free radio broadcasts featuring tom ross and club legend, tony "bomber" brown, for the away matches this year. dave bowler and john dunn will otherwise be back with albion radio still providing the commentary for home games.

the baggies are drawn at home to liverpool for the next round.

Tottenham Hotspur F.C. 1-1 WBA

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the baggies couldn't have hoped for a better start to steve clarke's reign at the hawthorns than with a massive home win over liverpool followed by an away draw at white hart lane. even more than the results, it is the manner in which the albion have performed in their first two league fixtures that is really impressive.

after making 200 appearances in his native scotland with current SPL side, st. mirren, head coach, steve clarke, joined chelsea in 1987. he played at stamford bridge for the next 11 years, making 421 appearances starting in the humble twighlight of the old FOOTBALL LEAGUE divisions one and two. going into coaching, he learned his trade in the big money environment of international TV football and the almighty PREMIER LEAGUE.


as one of english football's pre-eminent insiders - and having literally grown up working at the likes of newcastle, chelsea, west ham and liverpool - clarke has had a career steeped in the culture of big club football and the traditions of being in a winning side.

this is perhaps the most important quality that the gaffer has brought with him to the hawthorns.

his acumen as a tactician has been singularly important in starting the season off with two good results. at home, the gaffer set his side out in a flexible 4-2-1-3 formation that limited liverpool to 20-30 minutes worth of good football at the outset of the first-half before the albion got on top and took them apart.

away to spurs however, the gaffer employed a more conservative 4-5-1 formation, which gave tottenham a massive edge in possession but allowed for precious little in the way of creating any real scoring opportunities.

having played to a 0-0 score-line going in at the half, the baggies had successfully frustrated the tottenham attack and created a mounting sense of tension amongst the spurs' supporters that would only put added pressure on the home side as the afternoon wore on.


in the second half, the baggies were well on top of the play, and as the match progressed they fully looked the better side. going into the last half hour - and led by their attacking players - west brom aggressively pressed the ball in advanced positions to increasingly greater effect. despite tottenham's first-half dominance, the baggies had weathered the storm and it was now the visitors who looked the more likely to get off the mark with graham dorrans and marc antoine fortune having had the best scoring chances of the afternoon.

however, and from a spurs' corner in the 73rd minute, benoit assou-ekotto gathered a gareth mcauley clearance well beyond the edge of the albion penalty area. while his attempt on goal would otherwise have been saved by ben foster, it took an unfortunate deflection off graham dorrans and skidded into the far corner of ben foster's goal. the baggies' keeper was left flat-footed with no chance to react, and his side were truly unlucky to have gone behind.

one of the more positive characterisitics of west brom team over the last few years has been a resilience that has seen them take points through goals scored in the last fifteen minutes of the match on numerous occassions. applying relentless pressure following the tottenham goal, the baggies found a late equalizer through the determined play of james morrison.

with spurs coming under pressure and needing to do some last ditch defending as west brom flooded the spurs' penalty area in a continuous wave of attack, the ball was cleared off the line by william gallas and bobbled around dangerously in the goal area before it finally fell kindly for james morrison who side-footed home from 10 yards out to put the baggies level in the 90th minute. it was no more than they deserved.


when steve clarke first arrived at the hawthorns he found a team that was really well drilled defensively, they had just bought a top class goalie and were just a couple of strikers short of playing consistently winning football in the PREMIER LEAGUE. knowing he would need more goals from his side, clarke added swedish international, markus rosenberg and chelsea's teenage stiker, romelu lukaku, who came to the hawthorns on season long loan.

steve clarke's tactics and strategies have been in evidence since the season kicked off, and he has set out a side that is committed to a style of play that promises much in going towards improving on roy hodgson's legacy. he's a proper old scots professor who doesn't know a lot about consolidation, mediocrity or playing losing football.