FIVE STAR
ALBION CRUISE TO VICTORY
Albion extended their unbeaten pre-season with an impressive 5-1
demolition of
Northampton
Town.
The first half started with the Baggies in positive mood
passing the ball around crisply and with purpose and it
only took until the third minute for the visitors to
record their first attempt on goal when Zoltan Gera
headed down a Jonathan Greening cross only for former
skipper Curtis Davies to volley straight at the Cobblers
goalkeeper.
Eight minutes later and it was
Albion
who threatened again, this time the impressive Kevin
Phillips met a pin point cross from Jared Hodgkiss but
his powerful header was easily held by Bunn. But just
over 5 minutes later Bunn was the victim of a bizarre
own goal that was claimed by Albion skipper Greening.
The Albion midfielder lashed onto a loose ball and
rifled a 20 yard-drive straight at the Northampton post
that bounced back and hit the diving keeper on the back
and rolled into the net.
Soon after this
Northampton
had their best chance of the first-half when Bradley
Johnson’s free-kick just dipped over the cross bar.
Albion continued to look dangerous with Beattie and
Phillips all going close, but it was Albion’s debut man
Teixeira who made it 2-0 when Gera laid back Tininho’s
low centre for the Portuguese midfielder to curl a
stylish 20 yard-shot into the top corner of the
Northampton net.
With
Albion now piling on more and more pressure
Northampton again fell further behind three minutes
before half-time when Gera whipped a right wing cross
into the box only for
Northampton
defender Mark Hughes to put the ball into his own net
with a rather impressive diving header.
Half Time:
Northampton Town 0 West Bromwich Albion 3
With no changes made at half-time Tony Mowbray’s men
continued where they left off, laying siege to the
Northampton half of the pitch and had a great chance to
make it 4-0 when Robert Koren set Craig Beattie away only
for the new forward to put his shot wide of the post.
Moments later though
Albion’s virtually redundant keeper for the night, Dean
Kiely showed great concentration when pulling off a
fantastic save to tip Johnson’s 20 yard-drive over the
bar.
But
Albion wrapped up their first win of pre-season with two goals in a
minute when firstly, Texeiria capped an impressive debut
by grabbing his first brace in
Albion colours when he coolly slotted home after 67 minutes.
Sixty seconds later it was trialist Tininho who latched
onto a Beattie pass to steer the ball into the box and
Albion’s
prolific frontman Kevin Phillips prodded the ball home to
cap off a 5 star Albion goal glut.
Northampton did grab a goal back in the 77th minute
when Ian Henderson fired past the outstretched arm of Dean
Kiely but that didn't take the gloss off a very good
Albion
performance.
Full Time: Northampton Town 1 West
Bromwich Albion 5
MATCH INFORMATION
Northampton Town (4-4-2):
Bunn, Crowe (May 75), Dolman, Hughes, Jackman,
Henderson, Johnson, Burnell (Dyer 80), Holt, Larkin
(Gilligan 64), Kirk (Aiston 14). Subs not used: Dunn,
Quinn, Howe, Haines.
Albion
(4-4-2):
Kiely, Hodgkiss, Martis, Davies, Tininho, Gera, Koren,
Teixeira, Greening, Beattie, Phillips. Subs not used:
Daniels (gk), Worrall, Labadie, Manchester, Nardiello,
Nicholson.
Goals:
Northampton - Henderson (77). Albion - Bunn (14 og),
Teixeira (35 & 67), Hughes (42 og), Phillips (68).
Referee:
P Walton (Northamptonshire).
Assistant Referees:
M McCloughlin and S Ross.
Fourth
Official:
W Chalmers.
Attendance:
1,949 (589 Albion fans).
NEXT UP:
Pre-Season Friendly: Northampton Town, away, Friday 27th
July 2007, 7.45pm.
