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.

WBA 3-0 Liverpool F.C.

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the baggies kicked off their third consecutive PREMIER LEAGUE season by continuing their current rehabilitation as a top-flight side and breaking yet another long-time hoodoo. not having won an opening day fixture in the top division for several decades, west bromwich albion, at home and under the direction of their new head coach, steve clarke, demolished an average looking liverpool team by a deserved score of 3-0.

while the merseysiders looked dangerous and had the better of the play for the first twenty minutes - thanks to the attacking skill of luis suarez - they were otherwise shut down by clarke's new-look albion side. along with the superbly disciplined back four and a sophisticated defensive game that the team learned under roy hodgson, the new gaffer has brought a CHAMPIONS LEAGUE attacking style to the club.


with five top-flight strikers now in the first-team squad, places in the starting team are going to be hard won this year. while simon cox and somen tchoyi have moved on, the baggies have retained shane long, peter odemwingie and marc-antoine fortune with midfielder, zoltan gera, returning from a season long injury. to their attacking options they have added swedish international, markus rosenberg - who was not yet fit to play on saturday; and teenage striker, romelu lukaku, who most decidedly was.

the 19 year-old belgian international, who is on season long loan at the hawthorns from chelsea, immediately made an impression and displayed his top-flight pedigree with the third and final goal for the albion after coming on as a 68th minute substitute for shane long.

the real surprise was that steve clarke started the match with a an adventurous and flexible 4-2-1-3 formation. the forward line saw gera moved into an advanced position on the left, odemwingie on the right and long at centre-forward. james morrison sat behind them as attacking midfielder with youssouf mulumbu and claudio yacob in the defensive holding positions. stephen reid has recovered from injury and was started at right-back, while liam ridgewell has nailed down the left-back spot since his arrival from blues last year. despite much speculation, jonas olsson has returned, and the swedish international has been paired up again with gareth mcauley at centre-half. together they are as good a set of central defenders as has been at the club since the 1970s.


while i say that this formation was "adventurous", it did make me think, well how ELSE do you play football at a big club like liverpool or chelsea?!? the answer, of course, was obvious. steve clarke has a long history of being associated with top clubs and it looks, at the moment, like he is going to be a top manager. he may even be someone who would be able to acheive what the average albion supporter hasn't been able to imagine possible since the days of cyrille regis and tony brown. but then, it's probably a bit premature to project top-four finishes and CHAMPIONS LEAGUE nights returning to the hawthorns just yet.

however - and in the quest to revive the traditional spirit of west bromwich albion - this is the best balance that the baggies have had between quality and depth in the side for years, and a cup run wouldn't be beyond the realm of possibility.

what was different about this performance compared to other results acheived against the big clubs over the last two seasons, was just how dominant the baggies were in both attack and defence. last year's win over chelsea at the hawthorns, for example, was a deteremined defensive display that totally shut down the london club's top scorers, allowing centre-half gareth mcauley to nick a late winner from a chris brunt corner to give west brom a long overdue victory over the blues.

against liverpool, however, the baggies were the better team all day long and in every aspect. despite some good passing in the middle of the park, and several good chances that fell to luis suarez inside the first half-hour, it was zoltan gera who got the baggies' season started with a goal that resulted from a james morrison corner in the 42nd minute. martin skrtel's clearance fell to gera just beyond the edge of the reds' penalty area, and needing a single touch to bring it under control, the hungarian international blasted a 20-25 yard screamer past a helpless pepe reina in the liverpool goal.


the baggies led 1-0 at the half.

the albion totally dominated the second period as shane long went on to win two penalties in the space of a few minutes. through on goal in the 57th minute, and with only reina to beat, the young irish striker felt a desperate and beaten daniel agger dig an elbow into his back. he went over in the box and won the decision which also saw the liverpool defender red-carded. however, long's effort was as poor a penalty as one is likely to see at this level of football and was an easy save for the liverpool keeper. it was only moments later that long won a second penalty and a chance to make ammends for the earlier missed opportunity.

chasing down the play in the liverpool penalty area, long used his pace and skill to get in behind the reds' defenders - and coming from the blind-side - took the ball from martin skrtel. skrtel then unwittingly gave away the second spot-kick when long was tripped up as he muscled himself into position between skrtel and the ball.

despite a debate amongst the west brom forwards as to who would take the kick, the responsibility fell to peter odemwingie. this time there was no mistake as the nigerian international buried a ferocious effort in the corner of the net beyond reina's reach just inside his right-hand post.

newcomer, romelu lukaku, came on as a 68th minute substitute for shane long, made an immediate impact as an incisive baggies' counter-attack saw the teenage striker put james morrison in with a gilt-edged scoring opportunity. with only pepe reina to beat, morrison curled his effort just wide of the far post when he really should have scored.

with albion continuing to press, a scuffed clearance fell to liam ridgewell, who looped in a perfect cross for lukaku to head home into an empty net at the far post.


while there wasn't a weak performance in the albion side, it was defensive midfielder, claudio yacob, that walked away with the man-of-the-match award. the argentinian was near perfect in his distribution. not only was he winning balls in the centre of the park, but completed a stunning 98% of his passes attempted.

however, the real star of the match was new albion boss, steve clarke. he looked cool, calm, composed and every bit the PREMIER LEAGUE manager. his team selection, as well as the confident manner in which he had the baggies playing, showed him to be possessed of a top footballing brain. his assured presence in leadership was evident and he appeared more than ready for a job he has clearly been preparing for for quite some time.

if this performance was any indication of things to come, then the baggies might just have made that crucial step up to the next level and are on their way to another successful year in the almighty, bloody PREMIER LEAGUE.

Not Worth the Price of Success

with the reports this morning that the FA is now going to offer dan ashworth the opportunity to take over as the national team's technical director, as a west bromwich albion supporter i have to wonder, is intelligent and prudent management leading to modest success as a PREMIER LEAGUE club worth it?

in these days where supporters want it all and expect it NOW; and where club owners are by-and-large egotistacal gamblers who understand little about the business of football and are willing to incurr huge debts and invest large parts of their personal fortunes in buying their way into the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, i would suggest perhaps "not". at least for the albion, anyway.



when jeremy peace took over as the major share-holder in the company that owns west bromwich albion, you might have asked, "will we ever play in the PREMIER LEAGUE?"

the answer would have been that it was "highly unlikely". however, through the virtues of patience, prudence, hard work and intelligence, the baggies have become a mid-table PREMIER LEAGUE club who might have a shot at winning one of the two major cup competitions sometime in the next 5-10 years. while this took almost a decade to achieve, including the restructuring of west brom's management set-up, and actually running the club at a profit, it seems to have served as little more than a development scheme for improving the resources of the english national team and providing valuable experience towards managing a winning side to the FA CUP and UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE title.



after 18 months in charge of the baggies, head-coach roy hodgson was offered the job with the english national team with no other serious contenders in sight. as a supporter, you can't imagine what a massive disappointment this was. it reminded me how - and as one of the best teams in the country - it seemed like the baggies used to unwittingly develop players for the big cosmopolitan sides, leaving them only extremely limited periods of time in which to achieve any major successes.

for example, after being scouted by the albion while playing for leyton orient, and just one full season with the baggies, laurie cunningham was bought by real madrid. manchester united swooped in and took not only bryan robson, but the player who had ostensibly been brought in to replace him as well, remi moses. as if that isn't bad enough, they also took one of our brightest (and decidedly most flambuoyant) managers in the likes of ron atkinson. man. u. went on to become one of the dominant forces in english football while the albion sank into nearly two decades of mediocrity. this sad state of affairs reached its all-time low with the team being relegated to the 3rd division at twerton park on a spring afternoon in the mid-1980s.

1978-79 was the only time since the mid-1950s that an albion side was good enough to win the league, and they only had the one opportunity.

between 1978 and 1982, west bromwich albion had just missed out on a EUROPEAN CUP semi-final as well as runners-up spot in the league by a single goal in each competition respectively. they also lost two FA CUP semi-finals in the space of 4 years. barring a play-off win that took them back into the first division (now called the FOOTBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP) in 1993, there would be no estimable success for the albion again until jeremy peace took over the club as a full-time venture.



mr. peace is not the typical businessman turned football chairman. first and foremost, he does not have a large enough personal worth to invest in the club that it would make any difference, and is therefore forced to either seek outside investment or run the club at a profit. this is a fact that is not always clearly understood by those among the albion supporters who largely characterize him as a tight-fisted and miserly so-and-so. of course, he would be much more immediately popular if he sent the club into unsustainable debt and got arrested for money-laundering, but all his years in investment banking (among other things) taught him to be far too responsible about business to win popularity contests. while a personal fortune of £40 million might seem a lot of money, in top-flight football it would only buy you one andy carroll, a reserve team goalie and a couple of aging impact players before going broke.

football has become ruthless and it seems that when you create something of worth - regardless of what it cost or the time it took - it becomes all the more expensive to hang onto. and no matter what you think of him, jeremy peace has created something worth hanging onto.

The Strange Case of Simon Cox

despite the fact that it wasn't much of performance, i was at the hawthorns when simon cox got his first league start for the baggies in a home match with plymouth argyle. the week before, he had scored the winning goal in extra-time in a LEAGUE CUP fixture with rotherham united - his first goal for the club - and that had won him the right to start, partnering roman bednar in a conventional 4-4-2 set up - still the preferred formation for most english clubs at the time.

it wasn't a great debut and he was substituted early on in the second-half after a less than memorable performance. it was not a particularly good time for strikers at the club, and most of the goals were coming for an attack-minded mid-field. graham dorrans and chris brunt, respectively, were the side's leading scorers that season. in this particular match, it was shelton martis who scored the first goal for the baggies, equalizing after going 0-1 behind on an early goal by jamie mackie. even more unusual was marek cech's brace (his only two goals ever for the club) that won the game for the baggies by a score of 3-1.

nontheless, i can always claim to a have seen simon cox' league debut for west bromwich albion.

cox was in and out of the first team that year. he had been targeted by the club when tony mowbray was still the gaffer - presumably to help fill the void left by the previous season's departure of kevin phillips for birmingham city - and i think that he would have gotten more time in the side had mowbray remained at the hawthorns. but it was never to be. when TM moved on to take over at his old club, celtic, roberto di matteo came in as the first man to hold the newly created title of "head coach". despite cox being RDM's first signing for the baggies, even luke moore - possibly the least popular individual ever to play in the navy-and-white stripes - was often a preferred starter to the young man who, the year before and playing for swindon town - had been the FOOTBALL LEAGUE's joint top scorer with 29 goals in LEAGUE 1.

under di matteo and with west brom chasing promotion, cox managed 34 appearances and 10 goals in both league and cup competitions. he still found it hard to break into the first team as a regular starter. however, as an intelligent young man he must have reasoned that his best bet was stay at the hawthorns, with a club where the attitude and atmosphere was positive and who were definitely a side "on the up" - and wait for his opportunity. as a professional footballer he was certainly aware that he could have done a lot worse.

back in the PREMIER LEAGUE for the 2010-11 season, the baggies did well over the first three months, and had been as high as 4th in the league table at on point. however, cox was restricted to only a handful of appearances as a substitute and only getting to start in the LEAGUE CUP. after scoring 3 goals in 2 games, he finally earned himself the right to be included in the starting 11 for a league match away to blackpool. luck did not favour the young striker, though, as he was strategically withdrawn in the 12th minute when pablo ibanez was red-carded.

when results started to elude the baggies, and they went on a long winless streak that started in november (with the blackpool game) and went through into the new year, di matteo's time was up and roy hodgson took over for the last 13 weeks of the season.

this heralded a complete turnaround for the club, and with only two losses in their final 13 fixtures, they finished a comfortable 11th in the standings.

still, nothing much changed for simon cox. although he was very often in the side as a substitute. this led to his first PREMIER LEAGUE goal in a match away to tottenham. he scored what was west bromwich albion's goal of the season as the baggies snatched a late equalizer at white hart lane, putting the team on 40 points and virtually guaranteed their survival in the top-flight.

however, things still didn't get any better for cox during the 2011-12 season. he still could not break into the first team, and when he did get a start he was used almost exclusively as a utility player to make up the numbers when the side was hit with injuries. this meant that he was often played out of position on either the right wing or as a central midfielder, fulfilling the necessary and rudimentary defensive duties that were required of him.

even his usual exploits in the cup competitions, where he scored a hat-trick against cardiff, could not guarantee him the opportunity to get a start in the league.

while cox supplies an above average effort and work-rate, his real talent will never be found on the training pitch. he's not particularly tough, big or pacey. what he does have, though, is a sense for scoring goals. he hits 25 yard screamers, gets on the end of crosses - both on the floor and in the air, and knows where to be to get the tap-in on scuffed shots and loose balls in the box. at a time when teams are playing more and more with a single striker and a five-man midfield, cox is a bit of throw back who is all too easily over-looked and possibly under-rated.

a little surprisingly, the baggies recently picked up the final year option on cox' contract, creating the possibility that he would be at the hawthorns for at least one more year. but with a £2 million offer from blackburn rovers, it appeared earlier this week that cox was on his way to find full-time football in the CHAMPIONSHIP. however, this was quickly scuttled by apparent political problems at the lancashire club. while it seemed that manager, steve kean was anxious to bring cox to the club, his efforts have been undermined by the board who aren't interested.

since then, PREMIER LEAGUE side, swansea city, have emerged as the most likely contenders to sign him, although the rumour-mill also has him linked with interest from charlton athletic, leeds united, middlesbrough and scottish giants, celtic. at this point, any move that gets him a run of full-time football would still be a good move for him and the aspirations he harbours in regards to continuing his international career with the republic of ireland.

i have always liked cox and thought he would have been a bit more valued by the baggies than he has been. a year in the CHAMPIONSHIP would probably be the ideal move for him at the moment. but then who knows? a visionary top-flight side (like swansea) might find some success with him as well. whatever happens, i hope he finds a good club that will at least give him a chance and possibly reveal his potential.

more than anything, i hope he finds the luck which has eluded him since leaving swindon town.