West Bromwich Albion v. Plymouth Argyle (31 Jan) [R]

[DevilDave]

Albion will hope to take some momentum from Sunday's fantastic FA Cup derby win into our two league matches this week against Plymouth and Hull.

In their second season in the Championship, the Pilgrims have shown they are a club capable of beating quality teams, and they have had a good run of form lately in both the FA Cup and the league. We drew at Home Park last month in our previous meeting thanks to two first half stoppage-time goals from Phillips, but we were unable to capitalise on our luck and find a winner in the second half. Hopefully we'll have a better result this time round.

Sherjill MacDonald is expected to be in the Albion 16 tomorrow night and might make his debut off the bench. We will still be without Martin Albrechtsen (injury) John Hartson (illness) and Russell Hoult (suspension, due to... erm, let's not indulge anybody's imagination. :o )

Unfortunately, I will be out of town tomorrow and away from a computer so I won't be able to listen to the match.

[DevilDave]

By all reports, it was a decent but nervy win for us last night against battling Argyle. "Joe" Kamara continues to do the job for us having earned both of our goals. His first came on an apparent handball in the box for a penalty, the second was a great solo effort which (like his goal Sunday against W***es) highlighted what his deadly combination of pace and skill can accomplish.

I honestly think that it will be quite difficult to retain Kamara's services next season, whether or not we gain promotion back to the Premiership. He's on the radar of quite a few top clubs... not only in the Premiership but on the Continent as well.

Mixed reactions regarding Albion debutantes Sherjill MacDonald and Dean Kiely, apparently. Both were involved in separate incidents that Pilgrims boss Ian Holloway claimed were ungiven penalties... I can't really comment on them having not seen them. Despite not keeping a clean sheet, however, Kiely was a commanding presence in the box. We'll need that kind of keeper now that Russell Hoult has been allowed to sign with Stoke (I notice his bio is still up in the "Superstars in Stripes" section of the Albion official site.)

MacDonald only played 20 minutes so it's still a bit early to judge his performance.

[Albion + England]

It was certainly hardwork. Plymouth made us fight right until the end. Although we created all the chances, i wouldn't have been surprised to see them get a point. I don't think either were penalties and the one from MacDonald looked like a really good tackle.
Kamara scored another wonderful goal, and in fact he could have scored a better one in the 1st half but his touch let him down at the last moment.
Koumas had his poorest game in a long while and i thought the decision to give Chaplow man of the match was correct. His workrate was tremendous, what lets him down at times is his passing.

Davies and Clement looked reasonably comfortable until Plymouth made changes and Kiely was reliable.

A very good win in a game that we could have easily let slip away from us or suffered from hangover effects after Sunday. Well done lads!