Albion travel down the road to Small Heath to play Blues Saturday. Another local derby means another noon BST start (and means I'll have to get up again at 4 a.m. in my part of the world. ) Tony Mowbray is now 1-1 since officially taking over from Bryan Robson. Can Albion bounce back from Tuesday's Cup loss and possibly help add Steve Bruce to the growing list of unemployed football managers? Bluenoses have been calling for Bruce's head in recent weeks. However, Blues have won their last league match against Derby and hammered in four goals against Sheffield Utd. in their Carling Cup match. The pressure on Brucie may have lessened, but a poor result in the derby could well erase whatever favour he still has in the Blues boardroom. For our part, we will have to put out a stronger side than started the match against Arsenal. Most of the regulars found their way into the side, but they still couldn't scratch back a single goal. Perhaps it was the 4-5-1 formation? Should be a good one Saturday. C'mon you Baggies!
I think the Blues will take this one. The crowd will certainly be up for it. As you say should be a good one though. 2-1 blues
Blues have a bit more quality than do the W***es, but I still think we can nick a win at St. Andrews. Our away form hasn't been too bad since we dumped Robson.
Birmingham City 2 West Bromwich Albion 0 Disappointment in the derby as Albion lose at St. Andrews. The match was an end-to-end affair, with Blues deserving to get their two goals from Gary McSheffrey, and they were quite unlucky not to get more. Pascal Zuberbuhler, however, must be blamed for his poor positioning on McSheffrey's first goal from a free-kick in the first half. One could argue, however, that we should have at least been level (or possibly even winning) at half time. There were several stretches of the match when Albion created chance after chance, but Kamara and Koumas were unable to finish. Putting in Hartson for Quashie in the second half didn't help our attack at all. Once Paul Robinson was sent off for his studs-up challenge, however, we didn't get another sniff of goal, and Blues were able to add their second deep into stoppage time.
Good win for us today. At least now we are back in the pack. Robinson's challenge actually broke Johnsons jaw. I guess his studs were up pretty high From the commentary on BRMB it sounded like a great derby game. Having said that Ross is a bluenose.
Robbo gave his side of the story on the Albion web site, but I'll reserve judgement until I see a clip. (It may be posted on YouTube or possibly will be on the Sky Football League highlights shown on Setanta.) Well done on the day, Bluenoses, but as the Dingles told us after Sunday, "We'll see what happens next time at our place." Best of luck otherwise. Looks like Bruce will be keeping his job for a while as well.
Robinson deserved to go it was a bad challenge. Not in Thatchers league but judging from the scowl on his face afterwards i'd say he meant it. Otherwise, it's hard to be too disappointed because we played really well and should have scored enough goals to win it. Unfortunately we have a clown in goal who cost us both goals.