FOR ironic value, you had to admire the fact that Roy Hodgson was sitting above an advert saying: “You can fix it.”

Over to you then Roy.

For black humour value, well, where to start...?

The Baggies head coach-elect must have felt like checking the small print of his contract as he watched his new team throw away a three-goal lead to end 3-3.

Is there a get-out clause? Sorry Roy.

If Hodgson can manage to ‘fix it’ then he’s a better man than we think. And if there is one consolation – and my goodness we’re clutching at what’s left in the consolation box of straws – then it’s the notion that the 63-year-old boss got to see Albion at their best and worst.

He didn’t really need to see the previous 20-odd games. Everything he needed to know was contained within a 90-minute snapshot during his visit to The Hawthorns.

It was as good and as bad as Albion have been.

Michael Appleton, to his credit, put together a side in a formation which has been alien to them so far this season.

Four in the middle, two up front.

It was bold to try something new in his first game.

The players performed as if unleashed by the constraints of the system used by Roberto Di Matteo.

Albion were two up before we’d even reached the ten-minute mark. The opener saw Graham Dorrans strike a high shot into the top corner.

The second was a finish of good value. Jerome Thomas finished off the second on eight minutes when he curled in Marc-Antoine Fortuné’s knock-back past Rob Green.

West Ham escaped when Winston Reid handled Chris Brunt’s free-kick. No penalty. As if to remedy the situation, the hapless West Ham defender made amends when he turned in Dorrans’ free-kick past his own goalkeeper – the fact he did so with his arm was somewhat appropriate.

So 3-0 up...What could wrong? Well, wrong it had gone, after just 14 minutes when Youssouf Mulumbu was forced to call time on his afternoon due to a thigh injury.

There were two options – it was 2-0 at this point – that Appleton could have taken. Bring on midfielder James Morrison. Or bring on Gabriel Tamas or Pablo Ibanez and push Paul Scharner into midfield.

Appy opted for the former and it was to backfire.

West Ham were to grow in confidence and, though Albion were to score the third, the dynamics of the game were already swinging.

Scott Parker is the kind of player that Tony Mowbray would describe as a diamond on a beach of pebbles.