SOBS: WBA

The Lads headed to the Hawthorns for a reunion with old gaffer Tony Mowbray - one of the few who left us with best wishes all round - and came away with all three points. A battling defensive performance coupled with clever passing and strength all over the field, in which we held our shape very well against a side who tried to play the same way as us...but didn't manage to. Hyoooome's free-kick near the half hour was the only goal, but it would have graced football at any level. Fun in the sun indeed.

A daft early start had us at the ground, under the watchful eye of a black cat on a windowsill (it's an omen, I tell you!) before 10am, thanks to a bus whose clock showed the correct time, giving us plenty of time in the Royal Oak (packed with Sunderland folk, and with a delicious aroma of curries) to discuss the antics of former players during the week...Steven Fletcher came off the bench for Wrexham to join his captain James McClean his captain (dear me) and scorer George Dobson. Embo came off the bench for Carlisle on 29 to feed Joe Hugill, and got a straight red on 40. As my G. Dobson said..."ouch". Greg Halford managed to get booked late on in Bishop's defeat at Heaton Stannington last night to sort of round things up.

None of us seemed particularly concerned by the impending departure of Tommy Watson, the consensus in our group being that it was good business for someone who's played only 14 games. Someone with a lot of undoubted potential, but how many players his age have potential that never materialises? We were properly pleased, however, that the club has ditched Ticketmaster - although their replacement hardly seems less dodgy.

Just do it yourself, SAFC!

News came in that Leeds had dropped their keeper, presumably before he dropped himself, and in came our team news...more of the same

Patterson

Browne O'Nien Mepham Hume

Neil (c) Bellingham

Roberts Rigg Mundle

Isidor

...and a bench of Moore, Mayenda, Anderson, Hjelde, Lavery, Jones, Aleksic, Le Fee, and Watson. Hmm - what sort of reaction would he get?

We faced our fans, with the sun blazing down in our eyes, and Dan set us away with the usual pass to Patto and it was straight up into their final third for some lively stuff in front of the travelling fans.

We gave it a good go for five minutes then WBA applied a bit of pressure and their bloody drum started up. Patto was down at his left hand post to help get it away, with Mundle bursting down the left to win a corner - that Hume took. It was knocked away but only as far as Mundle, 25 yards out, and his loopy effort dropped well over the bar.

We weren't restricting ourselves to just the intricacies, hoofing a few long'uns over the defence for Issy to chase when the opportunity arose. When WBA lifted one into our box, Patto took a knock when punching it away, and on came the physio to begin a busy afternoon's work. After Issy landed badly near halfway, Jobe drove through the middle before feeding Mundle, who swapped passes with Rigg before firing just over. Promising stuff.

Roberts was next on the end of a great ball, cutting inside like he does, but having his shot deflected for a corner. Mundle stayed down after it was cleared and eventually limped off on 32, replaced by Mayenda - who apparently doesn't like Sam Fender and plays up front for us. He was straight into the action, being fouled near the corner of the box on our left. Roberts and Hume lined it up, and I said "you can score from this, Hume "

So he did, hitting it across the goal and inside the far post. The keeper will probably get stick, but it was a cracker of a goal. HYOOOOOOM! 1-0.

That put a spring in our step and brought increased liveliness to the Baggies' game, but their dive in our box was nothing short of embarrassing, and somehow wasn't deemed worthy of a card. Jobe was next to need treatment, and on came our medicine man for the fourth time. With five minutes of normal time left, a terrific Roberts ball set Issy away but he could only win us a corner, which flew from Roberts' boot low and right through the goal area, somehow evading every boot and limb.

Down at the other end, the home side won a few corners and nine (9) minutes were announced. That seemed excessive, but we played it sensibly to maintain our advantage.

After being treated to a blind footballer beating a blindfolded Andrew Johnson in a penalty competition, which I hope our players watched, we made WBA wait for our unchanged side to appear.

A great Jobe sliding block went for a goal kick and set our defensive tone for the half, with Roberts winning a tackle and the ensuing throw in. Luke then underhit a short pass and we needed Mepham's alertness to bang it out for a corner, which we cleared. After Issy was hurt again, this time by a block challenge as he carried it over halfway, Browne was booked for taking too long over a throw, with Roberts carded in the aftermath. I didn't see the incident, but someone had clearly whacked the ref around the head, because he went barmy, missing fouls, giving ones that didn't happen, and missing their long throw man planting his foot the wrong side of the line. The prize one was a yellow for Mayenda when he burst into the box from the left and apparently dived. With a sight of goal and our record from the spot, what sort of lunatic would choose to dive?

There was still half an hour to go, and a second would have settled it, but the next chance went to the home side with a free a couple of yards outside our box. Thankfully, the shot was woefully weak and straight into our wall, and Jobe hoofed it away to a roar of appreciation from our fans.

With twenty to go, on came Hjelde and Le Fee for Roberts and Browne, with Hume moving to his usual position. Enzo immediately played a wonderful blind pass through to Issy who was steaming down the left, but the low shot was comfortable for the keeper. We carried on flinging bodies in the way of things in our box, and Luke took a few wallops - perhaps on Uncle Tony's instructions? A home free-kick got over to our right, and the header brought a top save from Patto, diving low to his left to palm it away.

By the time four minutes extra were announced, Luke was dragging himself about the back line as if he'd just crawled out of a car crash, but it'd take more than a few bruises to see him off. Issy chased another clever pass to the edge of their box and twisted to get a couple of shots in before his third attempt was kicked away for a corner on our right. So we replaced him with Aleksic who closed down the home midfield admirably for the couple of minutes he was on.

The clock ticked to 94, our end was a cacophony of whistles that had windows in Handsworth shattering, then he blew, blew, blew, b-b-b-blew. Relief, joy, and defiance burst out in an almighty roar and when things eventually settled down a bit, the Lads came over to express their gratitude. As usual, Mayenda did the "OOOOOYAY" stuff, we chanted "Leo, Leo" in recognition of Mr Hjelde's robustly excellent defensive contribution, and all was well with the world. Mayenda continued with the "OOOOOOYAYs" until he disappeared down the tunnel, and was probably doing them in the players' lounge and on the team coach home.

Man of the Match?

Great game from Neil, and from Mepham and Luke (that daft scuffed pass apart), and lots of hard work by Mayenda. Decent afternoon (technically afternoon) all round, really with Bellingham continuing his decent form. However, you don't defend like a rock, hit one effort just wide, and score a goal like the like he did without winning a celebratory bottle of ALDI sparkling wine.

Nice one, Trai.