West Brom 3, Newcastle 1: Chris Lepkowski's big match verdict
Dec 6 2010 by Christopher Lepkowski, Birmingham Mail
IT’S one of those years where record books are being tossed into the burner, stoked around with a giant stick and everyone is stood around the flame laughing.
Arsenal – not beaten for 27 years. Done.
Everton – no victory since 1979. Cross that one off the list.
Newcastle United? No Albion League win since miners were striking in 1984. Cross that off the list, too.
Somen Tchoyi and a Peter Odemwingie double restored Albion’s form following the poor show at Ipswich.
It takes them up to eighth in the table and, while that matters little in December, it surely has Albion fans shaking their head at the nonsense of it all.
The Baggies are where they are on credit.
And, following a few blips in recent weeks, they found themselves back on track against a Newcastle side which looked lethargic and simply had no response to Albion’s passing play.
It was all very bright from Albion early on.
They had Newcastle on the back foot from the very start, although the visitors were never truly threatened.
A 12th minute corner was deflected just as Paul Scharner teed up a volley. The bounce fell badly for him and his shot threatened only the supporters.
Chris Brunt, playing a central role, was to try his luck three minutes later. His shot from 30 yards flew high into the stand.
Possession was 73 per cent Albion’s during the opening quarter of the game but for all their efforts there was to be no way through.
Newcastle threatened when Albion failed to clear a 25th minute Danny Guthrie corner. Andy Carroll managed to flick it onto Steven Taylor and the Newcastle defender went for an acrobatic effort but completely missed the ball.
It was Albion who struck first when Somen Tchoyi scored his fourth goal in six games. Chris Brunt battled past Jonas Gutierrez and found Tchoyi. The Cameroonian powerhouse dipped inside Jose Enrique and Sol Campbell before hitting a curler into the top right corner.
