A strongish Blues team lined up with Vaesen, DJ Campbell, midfield dynamo Jamie Clapham and first team newbies Kilkenny and Painter, which really ought to have been enough, but no – they managed to bog it completely!
Blues dominated the early exchanges and created a couple of half decent chances for the lightweight but pacey strike pairing of Campbell and Allen (sounds like a 1960s folk singing duo, doesn’t it?). Then, out of the blue, Albion scored with their first attack after 10 minutes – a punt down the right wing led to a good cross into the six yard box. Neither Blues centre back made any effort to head the ball away, leaving the cross for Vaesen to collect. He didn’t, electing instead to offer Albion’s startled striker Rob Elbins with a free header from two yards out. 0-1. Still, no harm done, for straight from the kick off, Kilkenny split the Albion defence with a through ball for Campbell to race through and place the ball past Albions Edwin Van der Saar lookalike, Luke Daniels. 1-1. This was gonna be a doddle.
DJ looks the business. This was the first time I’d seen him, apart from a couple of 10 minute cameos for the first team. He looks as fit as a butchers dog and shuttles backwards and forwards in between his strike partner and the midfield 4, making it difficult for defences to pick him up. Great workrate.
The Albion defence were considerably bigger and stronger than Blues’ two tiny strikers, so naturally Blues kept pumping long balls in the air. Somewhat frustrating, except for those instances when the ball went over or between the statuesque defenders, offering Campbell and Allen the ability to outpace them and streak through on goal. Sadly, most of these chances went begging as Campbell put a couple wide and Allen hit a couple straight at the keeper. It should have been 4-1 inside the first 20 minutes.
After 25 minutes, Blues took the lead. Again, it was the Kilkenny/Campbell combination that caused the problems. Kilkenny fed Campbell on the left, DJ turned the defender this way and that before sprinting past him. A little dinked cross over the keeper and Allen met the cross with a volley. Great block from Daniels but the ball rebounded to Allen. Allen hits the crossbar from the rebound and again, the ball rebounds to Allen. Allen contrives to hit the crossbar again but follows up on the rebound yet again to bundle the ball home!
28 minutes, and it’s defensive cockup number two. Painter heads the ball back but over Vaesen who watches helplessly as the ball drifts inches wide of the post. A lucky escape. Not wishing to be outdone, though, Alsop immediately contributes defensive cockup number three – a fskilful and pointless dribble towards his own goal leads to him panicking under pressure and fouling a Baggies player inside the ‘D’ on the edge of the penalty area. All 11 Blues players line up for the resulting free kick, doing a very fine job of unsighting Vaesen, who remains rooted to the spot as Albion’s Rob Davies curls a lovely free kick into the bottom right hand corner. 2-2.
I should mention at this juncture that, as far as I’m aware, I was the only person at the game wearing a ‘free the Cyprus 6’ t-shirt. Unfortunately, this was hidden beneath two fleeces (it was indeed very cold on the Solihull touchline), so I was also the only person to be aware that I was the only person wearing a ‘free the Cyprus 6 t-shirt’.
I should also at this juncture make mention of Albion’s Ibrahim Sissoko. I think I love him. Sissoko plays the game with a splendid ‘kill or get killed’ attitude. He dives wildly into every challenge as if it is to be his last. Many of these SAS challenges lead to him injuring himself, many others lead to him injuring his opponent. He is indeed the leading exponent of WWF Football. Worth the admission fee alone. I’d love to see him up against Robbie Savage.
Half time 2-2. A fairly modest bacon-and-cheeseburger, owing to the fact that Ms. freely had made Eggy Toast for me and Freely Jnr. at teatime. I hadn’t got room for a bellybusterburger, so tonite it was merely the routine quarter pounder, with a Bovril to wash it down. No sign of Brucie tonight, by the way. Not that I looked very hard. Apparently, as Blues fan, I’m ‘disgusting’ and, even worse, one of 200 Internet Warriors who criticise him unfairly. I’ll leave him alone in future.
Game restarts and, after 55 minutes, it’s defensive cockup number four. Saving the best ‘til last, this time it’s Sadler and Vaesen who invent yet another way to gift the opposition a goal. A fairly harmless through ball comes in. Sadler leaves it for Vaesen. Vaesen leaves it for Sadler. Sadler leaves it for Vaesen. Albion’s excellent right winger Chris Humphrey decides to jog up and watch. Vaesen leaves it for Sadler. Sadler leaves it for Vaesen. Sadler decides to dive along the floor and head it to Vaesen (the ball’s about six inches off the ground). Vaesen decides to ctach it but it’s going too slow and he doesn’t get his hand onto it. By now, Vaesen and Sadler are both lying on the floor, like starstruck lovers. Humphrey walks the ball into the unguarded net. As Albion celebrate and laugh, Vaesen and Sadlet get to their feet for a good argument. 2-3.
At this juncture, dear reader, please spare a thought for Sam Oji who has been having an imperious game whilst all about him crumbles. Oji never put a foot wrong all night, timed his tackles superbly, used his upper body strength to hold players off whilst he played the ball out of defence, headed away loads of crosses and through balls and generally performed as an all-round good egg. Young right back Mark Hall had a solid game as well, although Kilkenny (for some mysterious reason playing on the right wing) got a bit frustrated with Hall’s choice of passes a few times.
Kilkenny was everywhere and was Blues’ best player by a considerable margin. he created both goals and made a dozen other great contributions. Very vocal and totally committed, he is definitely first team captain material.
After 58 minutes the ref upset me. He finally booked my hero Sissoko for repeated fouling. He was actually one of three Albion players to get booked, which is quite a lot for a reserve game and is witness to the Baggies’ more physical approach to the fixture.
68 minutes and Campbell limps off with what looked like a slightly twisted ankle. It didn’t look too serious, so hopefully this was pretty much a tactical move, with one eye on Saturday’s first team game. Nick Wright comes on to lay right wing and Kilkenny moves to forward.
78 minutes and the comedy continues. This time it’s Kilkenny’s turn to contribute. he kicks Sadler in the face, raising his foot to bring a ball down. Sadler goes off covered in blood and Jamie Price comes on. Midfield Dynamo Jamie Clapham reverts to left back, young Jamie Price comes on as sub in central midfield.
The game fizzles out. Albion indulge in a well-organised offside trap and an orgy of time wasting. Nick Wright’s pace causes a few problems and he creates half chances for Kilkenny and Allen, which just miss the target. All in all, Blues have created about 20 scoring chances, missed 18 of ‘em, conceded three comedy goals and injured one of their own players. You couldn’t make it up!
Blues: Vaesen, Mark Hall, Sadler, Oji, Painter, Clapham, Alsop, Kilkenny, DJ Campbell, Allen, Motteram. Subs: Legzdins, Hojsted, Hinks, Price, Nick Wright.