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BORO v WEST BROM BLAST FROM THE PAST PART THREE
14th November 2004 was Robbo and Big Nige's first game in charge of West Brom. It just had to be against the Boro and we just had to make the journey...
WEST BROM AWAY 14-11-04
Written by Steve G, Pictures by Andy Craig
This was the type of match that 'Old Boro' would almost certainly have lost at any given time over the last few seasons. But this is 'New Boro' and today, we were hot favourites to continue our sequence of breaking old hoodoos.
West Brom beat us here two seasons ago when we were flying reasonably high and they were theatened with relegation. This morning we were seventh, a mere three points from a Champions League spot and West Brom were third from bottom.
'Old Boro' consistently and frustratingly raised their game for the top teams only to produce disappointing results against the sides at the bottom. 'New Boro' are playing like a top team themselves now, although that comment should not be used to summarise today's performance on the field but top teams can put in a poor performance and come away with three points.
Today, there was also the Bryan Robson Factor to consider and 'new manager's first game syndrome' was something that 'Old Boro' would always find difficult to overcome. 'New Boro' do not let such distractions get in the way of the job that needs to be done and take the professional approach instead.
Having said that, this was no ordinary new manager from Boro's point of view and when Robbo was introduced by the stadium announcer as the man returning to The Hawthorns after twenty three years, the subsequent ovation was uplifting and I am delighted to say that every single Boro fan joined in with that applause. Robbo deserved it.
One thing that is consistent this season is that in every away game that I have attended, Boro have always attacked the away supporters end in the first half and today was absolutely no different. I don't know why this always happens but it is always disappointing as most of this season's goals have come in the second half. Maybe we have lost the toss every time this season? 'Old Boro' always used to win the toss, but I digress.
Boro started well today and we looked as though we would dominate the match from a very early stage. The away support had high expectations that it would be only a matter of time before the first goal duly arrived and as wave after wave of Boro attacks descended on The Baggies defence, so that belief increased.
And then, as yet another Stewey Downing corner was fended off by the increasingly desperate West Brom defence, Captain Marvel himself walked to the touchline. And at the very moment that he appeared within eyeshot of the Boro fans and chants of "Drink all your beer, he's gonna drink all your beer" and "Robbo, Robbo, buy us a pint" rang out from the away end, the giant screen displaying the one sided action flashed up an advert for the West Midlands branch of JobSeekers Employment Agency.
We would have taken a shot of the offending advertisement but at this point, the overbearing Goldrange stewards had aggressively informed us that taking photos was not allowed. And at varying intervals throughout the game, we were impolitely informed by these glorified seating attendants that we were also not allowed to stand up, smoke, gesticulate towards the home fans, shout too loudly or support our team with too much passion. Watching football was allowed. Just.
Goldrange are an oppressive London based firm whose supervisory staff take great pleasure from exerting the ninety minutes of 'authority' that they are awarded on match days because it is the only time that they get to feel important. I used to work for them a few years ago at Charlton and QPR but left because of my inability to act like a complete twat.
There must have been over ten thousand policemen inside the ground as well, most of whom were deployed at the Boro end and whilst I cannot criticise West Brom for ensuring that security was of a high standard, I couldn't help but think that it would be most unusual if any of the Teessiders present had felt the urge to start beating up on their fellow townspeople. A word of advice. If you want to commit a crime in West Bromwich, do it when The Baggies are at home because there are so many police inside the ground that there can't possibly be any available to man the streets.
So the first goal duly arrived, courtesy of a Jimmy Floyd cross that ricocheted in off the defender and this is when I had my first feeling of deja vu, a la Charlton two weeks ago. If the defender had not got in the way then the ball would have fallen to Mark Viduka who was perfectly positioned on the near post to claim a long awaited goal for himself.
As soon as we scored, we changed from a team in control and looking good value for our high league position into a sloppy and disorganised outfit who were right on the verge of conceding. You could see the equaliser coming for a few minutes but that didn't stop the mighty sense of disappointment when it did arrive. How much better it would have been to have kept our concentration and gone in to the interval with a commanding lead.
We started the second half looking hungry to regain the lead and after probing the Baggies backline for the first part of the half, we were sent into raptures again when star striker Bolo Zenden donned his magic hat and duplicated his second goal against Lazio. Then we went rubbish again.
Steve McClaren had lost his composure by now and it wasn't long into the half when he vacated his seat in the stand to take up his new position on the touchline. He shouted and waved his arms about like a man possessed as the team were clearly not carrying out his instructions. Robbo was stood close to him and it was strange seeing Boro manager past and present on the same field. All we needed was Lennie Lawrence and our latest feature, The Three Boro Doctors would have been completed.
Despite our below par display, this was a great game for the neutral to see as there was not one moment when the action subsided or the interest level dropped. It would be great to see Robbo start a winning run at West Brom now and even greater to see the Boro consolidate our fourth place league position and qualify for Europe next season, although I would still settle for the UEFA Cup again as we may not be quite ready for Champions League football next season.
I have to say that we were lucky to get out of town with the three points today and if you watched Match of the Day last night and are wondering how Nwanko Kanu missed that tap-in in the final minute from 0.001 yards out, then all I can say is that they never showed him getting whacked in the nuts by the ball a few minutes earlier. Clearly that had affected his concentration and whilst you have to sympathise with that, it was still great to hear the chant of "What the fuckin' hell was that" being belted out by the Boro choir and given an airing on the same Match of the Day broadcast.
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