Bristol City 2, West Brom 1: Chris Lepkowski's big match verdict
Feb 22 2010 by Christopher Lepkowski, Birmingham Mail
I THINK the word you’re looking for is ‘knackered’.
It had been 14 games and just under five months since Albion were last defeated in an away fixture.
That run came to an end yesterday as Roberto Di Matteo’s jaded players finally ground to a halt.
A stream of midweek games, bad pitches and patched-up players finally caught up.
The Baggies needed to win after seeing Newcastle and Nottingham Forest take victories on Saturday but they ran out of ideas following a decent first-half showing.
Albion led at the interval through Graham Dorrans’ impressive strike but they became timid and sloppy after the break.
It soon became a performance that was crying out ‘fresh legs’, ‘new signings please’ and ‘lets bring someone in quick’.
Dorrans’ impact suffered in the second half and, as a result, so did that of his team-mates around him. They simply caved in and were unable to muster up the energy or inspiration to regain any momentum.
Chris Iwelumo, on loan from Wolves, equalised for City in the 55th minute, before Lee Johnson, the Bristol manager’s son, scored the winner minutes later.
Chris Brunt was squeezed out by a mass of Bristol City defenders as he tried to turn inside the home team’s penalty area inside the opening two minutes.
The Albion winger was dispossessed as he attempted to shoot.
Dorrans tested Dean Gerken moments later but his long-range shot was straight at the City goalkeeper. Danny Haynes destroyed Joe Mattock for pace in the fifth minute when he made his first dash down the right wing.
The Baggies left-back struggled to keep up but was relieved to see the Bristol man’s shot fly into the side netting. It was to set the tone for Mattock’s performance.
At the other end, referee Neil Swarbrick was to incur the wrath of Roman Bednar when the Baggies striker broke free of the last defender. The Czech was bearing down on goal when he was bundled over by Louis Carey. Whether it happened inside or outside the box was unclear but the foul looked obvious – at least it did to everyone except the Lancashire official, who waved play on.
Bristol’s early threats came down the right with Mattock struggling to settle but it was down the middle where their next effort was sourced.
Bradley Orr ran through the centre and tried his luck with a long-range shot.
His effort was way off target but the amount of room he was presented with won’t have pleased the visitors’ coaching staff.
Dorrans should have exploited his next trip towards Bristol’s goal. The Scotland international chased Bednar’s flick-on and might have been served better with a quick shot.
