West Bromwich Albion 1 Bolton Wanderers 1 - Post match analysis

Mar 23 2009 by Robert Tanner, Birmingham Post

WEST BROMWICH ALBION 1 BOLTON WANDERERS 1

Time is rapidly running out for West Bromwich Albion but manager Tony Mowbray has vowed his side would not give up the fight until it was mathematically certain that the plug would be pulled on their Premier League survival battle.

For the second time in a week, Albion produced a spirited performance but failed to turn their positive play into three points and even had to rely on a late Danny Shittu own goal, after Robert Koren’s strike took a wicked deflection off the Bolton substitute, to get anything out of the game.

With eight games remaining, draws like this and the point they picked up at West Ham last Monday are simply too little, too late, and Albion realised it.

After falling behind to a Matt Taylor volley in the 67th minute, Albion went for broke and finished the game with just two defenders on the field.

Ultimately, they fell short and the way several of the players slumped to the turf at the final whistle, as if already relegated, demonstrated their despair at not having picked up their first league win for ten games.

But Mowbray has promised his side would not give up hope.

“I never question the players giving up the ghost but I think they understand it becomes more difficult,” he said.

“I think they were disappointed we didn’t win the game. For a long time the players have looked for fixtures we can win and get three points and give ourselves a real chance to get out of our predicament. This was one of those fixtures.

“I think the disappointment was directly in the aftermath of the 90 minutes. We only took a point rather than three and the players put in a huge effort again. They probably felt they deserved more out of it. ”

There is no question Albion must now win a large proportion of their remaining fixtures if they are to escape and if they are unsuccessful, Mowbray issued an honest assessment – some of his players simply haven’t been good enough.

“If we win five it is 15 points and that takes us to 39 points,” he said. “Is that going to be enough? I don’t know.

“In certain parts of the pitch, certain departments they have found this league a little too much. That isn’t about philosophies or styles of play, it is about individuals not being up to the task.”

Albion failed to take their early chances and Chris Brunt wasted the best opportunity when he dragged his shot wide with only Wanderers keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen to beat. After that, Bolton’s predictable but effective approach put Albion on the back foot and Scott Carson produced a superb reaction save to deny Gary Cahill from a Taylor corner.

Carson also had to be alert to push two Taylor free kicks around the post and although he was powerless to stop the Trotters midfielder’s superb volley for the goal, he did pull off a great stop at the death to deny Taylor.

Albion went close themselves in the last ten minutes as the piled forward desperately but Roman Bednar headed over the bar and, as the temperature rose, former Baggies boss Gary Megson, who was making his first appearance at The Hawthorns since being sacked nearly four and a half years ago, was sent to the stands by referee Howard Webb after becoming frustrated at not being able to make a time-killing substitution.

However, it was Albion who were ultimately left the most frustrated as another game and another opportunity to drag themselves back towards safety slipped away.

Scorers: Taylor (67) 0-1; Shittu (og, 82) 1-1.

WEST BROMWICH ALBION (4-4-2): Carson, Zuiverloon (Valero, 75), Martis, Olsson, Robinson (Dorrans, 75), Morrison, Koren, Greening, Brunt, Simpson (Bednar, 58), Fortune. Substitutes: Kiely, Cech, Moore, Teixeira.
BOLTON WANDERERS (4-5-1): Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Puygrenier (Shittu, 59), Samuel, Taylor, McCann, Muamba, Gardner, Davies, Elmander (Smolarek, 90). Substitutes: Al Habsi, Riga, Hunt, Makukula, Cohen.

Referee: Howard Webb (South Yorkshire).

Bookings: Albion – Greening, Bednar (both fouls); Bolton – Steinsson (foul).

Attendance: 25,530.