The first half was reasonably pretty with both sides trying to play some football. Unfortunately, tonight’s Joke Officials had met beforehand and decided on a Maximum Offsides Strategy and so very many promising episodes of play by either team were ended because either someone was remotely in line with the last man or play had continued and then the Jokers realised that someone had been offside a few minutes before and so they could stop play and bring everyone back for a free kick.
Cisse was having an excellent game, tidying up in midfield and prompting play with some nice little passes. He got booked, of course, for what was pretty much a 50/50 with Elbows Dichio, which turned out to be the only free kick he conceded in the entire match. I honestly don’t know of any other player who gets booked for his only offence as many times as Aliou does. “Is it ‘cos I is black?” he must ask himself…
Lucky Luciano Figueroa was making his debut for Blues and very good he looked, IMO. He puts himself about a lot, which is surprising for a South American. He tackles back well and played some decent flicks. I didn’t see any evidence of tremendous pace (that’s for Nasser on Planet Blues), but he does make intelligent runs across the line. He seems to be more of a team player than he got credit for – I was expecting more of a goal-hanger – and was instrumental in the build ups in many a move.
Blues defence was marshalled by Purse and Tebily, who were, well, ferocious. Albion’s defence featured their new Senegalese bloke N’Dour, who looked OK at left back. He’s got great pipe-cleaner legs, borrowed, I think, from Kevin Francis. I think Albion also played Seku Berthe in central defence. If it was him, he was very, very, lucky not to get sent off for a series of rash challenges.
The first half finished 0-0, with both sides having enjoyed similar amounts of possession.
Second half, Blues came out and steamrollered Albion. Cisse, Carter and Hughes were winning everything in midfield. The best chances seemed to be falling to Kirovski, who never managed to find the target once, despite having three good chances to get a shot away. Lucky was grafting away like a good ‘un. and Albyun were having to increasingly rely on breakaway attacks, usually featuring the pacy and impressive Dyer.
Shout of the game came early in the second half when Purse got flattened in midfield. The Albion player got booked by the ref and severely reprimanded by a Blues fan because (quote) “I’ve got him in my bleedin’ Dream Team, I hope you haven’t hurt him”
Blues took the lead from a corner, very well swung in by Darren Carter and buried by Tebily with a firm downward header. Not long after and it was 2-0. Carter and Motteram combined in midfield to hustle the ball away from some poor sod and set an attack underway. Carter (I think) got decked by one of many tackles from behind but only after he’s slipped a fine ball through for Lucky Figueora. Just as Lucky was about to pull the trigger he was flattened in the box by a combination of the Albyun goalie and one of the Chambers. Penalty. Purse stepped up and placed the penalty low to the right, goalie going the wrong way. 2-0. Before the penalty there was great debate in the crowd about which of the two Albion players would be sent off, Figueroa having been denied a clear scoring opportunity. Referee Mr Pillock decided discretion was the better course of valour and sent neither off, instead electing to book the bloke who’d decked Carter.
By now Albion were in tatters and were well on the way to picking up their 49 bookings, for a mixture of tackles from behind, dissent and flying elbows.
About 15 minutes from the end and it was 3-0. Motteram again robbed a Baggy defender on the half way line and rocketed away down the left wing. He cut into the penalty area, made his way to the by-line and then chipped the ball back across goal. Figueroa was lurking and he duly sort of smuggled the ball into the net. Big celebrations all round – the kid deserved a goal for all the work he’d got through and the tidy touches he’d shown. His team-mates seemed delighted for him, which bodes well. Incidentally, he’s about 5 foot eleven inches tall, not two foot six as reported in the Meaning Evil and other quality tabloids.
Albyun continued to defend frantically, tackling from behind getting booked all over the shop. One such tackle led to Lucky having to limp off with what looked like a sore right ankle. The ice pack should sort that one out. He went off to a great reception from the crowd.
And so that’s about it. Good performance, albeit against weaker-than-usual opposition. I didn’t see Brucie tonight but he was there. I did see Meggo, looking very dapper in a nice suit. He’s OK, Meggo. Also spotted was Tommy Mooney sitting with the fans, well outside Brucie’s throttling range. I suppose with a crowd of something like 1,000, it must have seemed a big game to old Harry Hill these days!
That’s all folks.
Blues: Colin Doyle, Chad Sheppard, Matthew Sadler, Aliou Cisse, Darren Purse, Olivier Tebily, Darren Carter, Bryan Hughes, Luciano Figueroa, Jovan Kirovski, Carl Motteram. Subs: Adam Legzdins, Lee Vaughan, Peter Till, Dean Curtis, Marcus Painter.
Albion (squad): Adams, Berthe, Brown, A Chambers, J Chambers, Clarke, Crane, Dichio, Dyer, Gilchrist, Jones, Marshall, Mkandawire, N’Dour, Wallwork, Warmer.
