Carling Cup Rd.1: Leyton Orient v. West Bromwich Albion (24 Aug) [R]

[DevilDave]

Albion travel to East London Thursday night to play Leyton Orient. The O's, who were promoted from League Two last season, currently sit mid-table in League One.

We're likely the better club, but Accy. Stanley's upset of Forest, Hereford's win over Coventry and Bury's shocker over Sunderland should serve as notice that lower league sides are on the hunt for scalps of "bigger and better" clubs.

Our next match isn't until Monday, so I have to wonder what changes Robson might make. Could Kevin Phillips make his Albion debut? With Albion's recent lacklustre midfield performances, might we see Carter, Chaplow or Inamoto in the first XI in the Cup?

This will be one of the rare Albion matches I'll be able to watch this season. I'm hoping to see a solid thrashing of Orient.

[Albion + England]

I think he'll play Carter, Chaplow, Inamoto in the middle with someone else. He'll play the two Utd youngsters and go for Hartson and Phillips up front but only because he has to. Albrechtsen will get a start too.

Theres no way i'm gonna predict a scoreline with our cup record.

[DevilDave]

Not a classic by any means, but good enough for us to sweep the O's aside without much trouble. Stuart Nicholson earned his first senior goal off the rebound from a shot from Chaplow. In the second half Carter beautifully thundered home a cross from Greening, then Jonno himself put the O's away with our third minutes later.

On his debut Kevin Phillips looked pretty good despite not scoring. The other Albion debutant, Paul McShane, was only slightly less impressive, but still did very well at the back. Curtis Davies was brilliant, coolly making some saving tackles and deserving to be named MOTM.

Occasional poor play by the Albion midfield gave Orient more than a sniff of hope for spells in the first half and early on in the second, and Zuberbuhler was a bit more busy than I'd hoped. Still, we created a lot of decent chances, and took them.