Portsmouth 2 West Bromwich Albion 2: Christopher Lepkowski's big match verdict

Apr 13 2009 by Christopher Lepkowski, Birmingham Mail

Two of the three subs who came on were Wood and Mulumbu – and I suspect Menseguez, rather than Hoefkens, would have been the third one had Gianni Zuiverloon not succumbed to injury late on.

We can speculate whether Mowbray was already thinking about next season. Possibly so.

You get the feeling that the Albion boss is already working on ‘Operation Revamp’ or, to put it more bluntly, ‘Operation: Let’s get the hell out of the Championship as quickly as possible’.

Albion showed plenty of spirit on the south coast.

It was Portsmouth who scored first. Albion’s midfield opened up. Jermain Pennant was closed down by Paul Robinson but did enough to play in Younes Kaboul.

The ex-Spurs man weaved around Greening before smashing a shot past Carson.

Albion equalised following Hayden Mullins’ back-pass to James.

The Portsmouth goalkeeper kicked the ball straight at Morrison, saved the Albion man’s first-time shot but was unable to keep out Greening’s follow-up.

It was Greening who played a part in Albion’s second when he was brought down by Mullins. Brunt’s shot deflected against Dorrans and flew past James.

But it didn’t last. Morrison brought down Mullins, allowing Kranjcar to drill his free-kick past Carson.

Abdoulaye Meite came in for the injured Shelton Martis and produced his best performance yet in an Albion shirt.

He was uncompromising. The Ivory Coast defender – goodness knows what was going through his head during the minute’s silence for the 20th anniversary of Hillsborough following the recent Abidjan horror – maintained his positioning and the confident display offered encouragement to Zuiverloon next to him.

Speaking of Zuiverloon, he was back to the level he displayed in the early weeks of the season.

He used the ball well and showed plenty of confidence going forward. He was robust in his challenges. Just a shame injury ruined his progress.

In front of the defence, marshalled by the excellent Jonas Olsson, was a five-man midfield, but not as we know it.

It worked. Jonathan Greening, playing on the left wing as he used to circa 2004, was sporadic.

But alongside him the engine room worked well. Graham Dorrans was full of energy and spark, tidy and efficient. It’s hard to believe it was only his second Premier League start.

Chris Brunt, out on the right wing, also gave Albion some spark. It looked an unusual move by Mowbray, not least as Brunt has hardly excelled there in the past – but he shone. Koren and Morrison were the epitome of enterprise and graft.

Ahead of them Marc-Antoine Fortune is not a natural striker. He doesn’t get into position enough, although his hard work did give hope for the midfielders running on to his passes.

He was joined late on by Chris Wood – a player who didn’t even possess a squad number before the game and was only in because Roman Bednar was injured. He gave Albion presence up front.

The experience will have been worth more than anything. Mowbray clearly thinks he will do a job.

Albion move on. They are, to all intents and purposes, down. Saturday’s result didn’t help, even though they played well.

You cannot blame Mowbray for thinking about next season already.