By Jemma Tappenden
February 24 2008

After the jubilation of last weekend’s 5-0 thrashing of Coventry City in the FA Cup it was back to business in the league versus Hull City. The Baggies welcomed back Captain Jonathan Greening from suspension and Robert Koren from injury, as well as Kevin Phillips who was recalled to join Roman Bednar up front.

Brunt, Pele and Teixeira all had to settle for places on the bench, alongside new on-loan signing Luke Moore from Aston Villa.

Albion fans are not particularly accustomed to slow starts, but they experienced one this afternoon as the game took a full sixteen minutes to muster up its first shot on goal.  Thankfully this attempt was for Albion as Hoefkens found Koren, who dummied his marker well before firing well over from 20 yards.  It did at least open the flood gates as chances for West Brom came thick and fast. 

Between the flurry of Albion chances Hull demonstrated that they could still put a serious dent into Albion’s promotion push and none more so than when Jay-Jay Okocha broke down the left.  Thankfully Leon Barnett was able to get a vital touch to prevent the ex-Bolton mans cross reaching Campbell, and Kiely was able to gather the ball.  In the 25^th minute the ball broke dangerously for Folan on the edge of the area, but Barnett was on call again to make a vital block. 

Just a minute later the Baggies demonstrated why they are such a threat when Gera, who was supplied by Hoefkens turned Henrik Pederson inside the box before shooting just wide of the left hand post.  But just three minutes later the Albion defence were caught napping and Okocha found Campbell in acres of space with a beautiful 25 yard pass.  Unchallenged Campbell was able to turn and place is shot into the top right hand corner of the net despite Kiely’s best efforts. 

In the 31^st minute Albion thought they had grabbed an equaliser when Gera towered above the Hull defence to head home Greening’s freekick.  But his effort was ruled out for offside.  In the 34th minute Morrison tried to play in Bednar, but Wayne Brown was alert to the danger to head out for a corner.  A few minutes later Morrison decided to have a go himself, but his 25 yard screamer was well held by Tigers keeper Boaz Myhill. 

By the last 10 minutes of the half Albion were really applying the pressure and Hull were struggling to hold onto their lead.  In the 39^th minute Gera tested Myhill with a swerving 20 yard shot.  Unable to hold onto the ball the rebound fell to Hoefkens, but his shot was just wide of the left hand post from a tight angle.  Just moments later Kevin Phillips threaded a telling pass to Bednar.  But the on-loan striker could not apply enough power to his shot to really test the Tigers keeper. 

Four minutes before the break the Baggies finally made all their pressure pay off.  Phillips and Bednar linked up again, but this time with much more success.  Phillips picking out Bednar with incredible accuracy, who headed home to level the scores from 10 yards. 

The Baggies could have grabbed another before the break when a minute into stoppage time Morrison forces Myhill to make a save at his near post.  Greening swung in the resulting corner which Bednar headed goalwards, although Turner was oncall to block.  The rebound fell for Paul Robinson, who smashed his effort well over the bar. 

Half Time: West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Hull City Albion were pressing for a second goal from the restart.  Kevin Phillips took advantage of a mistake from Sam Ricketts, but his 18 yard shot was well held by Myhill.  To minutes later Gera burst through the Hull defence trying to find Phillips who was in space, but somehow the on-form Tigers striker was able to scramble for the ball.   

Albion continued to press, and Phillips played in Morrison who saw the opportunity to shoot, but could only watch as his effort rebound out off of Brown’s head. In the 54^th minute Kiely put both himself and his defence under unnecessary pressure when after coming to deal with a long ball he found himself stranded outside of the box.  He gifted the ball to Ashbee who took full advantage of the opportunity to play in Campbell who had raced into the box.  Luckily for Kiely Barnett had back tracked quickly, and was able to head his effort off the line. 

In the 61^st minute Tony Mowbray decided to make a double change.  Both Phillips and Bednar were brought off and replaced by Miller and Moore respectively.  But the fresh legs did little to inspire Albion, and infact they found themselves under some pretty intense pressure. Campbell wasted a shot wide after Okocha had supplied him with the perfect ball. 

But in the 83^rd minute Baggies fans were stunned as after all their early period of pressure they suddenly found themselves behind for the second time in the game.  Folan skipped past Gera unchallenged and cut in from the left to unleash a shot which deflected off Barnett’s legs and into the bottom right hand corner of the net.   

Three minutes later Gera blazed a shot over the bar, and the Hungarian International had a golden chance to level the scores with just 60 seconds left on the clock.  But somehow he managed to shoot over from 5 yards after latching onto Luke Moore’s left wing cross.  It was just not to be Albion’s afternoon. 

Full Time: West Bromwich Albion 1-2 Hull City 

Bednar (41) 

Campbell (29) 

Folan (83) 

Attendance: 22,716