West Brom 4-1 Town

Last updated : 30 September 2003 By Site Editor
Thomas Gaardsoe opened the scoring on 11 minutes. heading in a Jason Koumas corner to score his first goal for West Brom in his first game against his former club since his £500,000 move last month.

Rob Hulse doubled the lead five minutes later after a mistake by Kelvin Davis led to a right footed drive low and central to find the back of the net to increase Town's woes.

The Blues went in 2-0 down at half time, With Joe Royle making the one change at the interval with England Under 21 striker Darren Bent replacing former Celta Vigo and Spanish Under 21 star Pablo Counago who had been ineffective in the first half.

Hulse put any chance of Town getting back in the game beyond reach in the second half on 57 minutes minutes when another Koumas corner was swung in and bad marking allowed Hulse chance to head unchallenged to score his second, and West Brom's third of the afternoon.

Naylor Reduced the lead to two goals on 63 minutes after a well delivered free kick into the box by Alan Mahon ended with Naylor rising well from his marker to head home from short range for his first goal of the season.

There was more bad news on 71 minutes where Alun Armstrong pulled up with what looked to be a hamstring injury. Armstrong tried to run off the injury but lasted just a few minutes before he was substituted for Georges Santos with Naylor moving up front and Santos slotting into a centre back role alongside Drissa Diallo.

Young Striker Dean Bowditch finally came on and replaced loanee debutant Alan Mahon on 78 minutes, with many fans surely wondering why that Bowditch didn't come on for Armstrong rather than sending Georges Santos into the fray.

Georges Santos' old foe,, Andy Johnson entered the scene replacing James O'Connor on 80 minutes, Santos since entering the fray had been greated by a large ammount of boos and jeers from the home crowd due to his horrific tackle on Johnson last season after coming on as a substitute for Grimsby which led to Santos being sent off.

Town's Misery was complete on 86 minutes when a long hopeful ball from Clement through the centre caused all sorts of confusion in the Town defence, with Davis stranded Diallo went to win ball but only suceeded in heading it towards his own goal, despite attempts to clear up from Georges Santos, the ball trickled over the line to make it 4-1 to West Brom.

2 Minutes of time were added on, in which Town never really threatened, and looked more likely to concede again rather than scored. Jermaine Wright was then involved in a confontation with a West Brom player and shortly after the referee blew his whistle for full time to round off a miserable afternoon for the blues.

Another poor peformance from Town left the club still in search for their first wn of the season. Former Boss George Burley's Derby also added insult to injury by claiming all three points away to Town's opponents on Tuesday, Wallsall to render the blues bottom of the Nationwide League Division One Table.

Questions must surely now be asked of the Ipswich Town Management, Playing Staff and board as the teams decline seems to be in freefall still, with little to no sign of anything turning around soon. The next two games, at home against Walsall and Wimbledon respectively, are now must win games for the club if they wish to have any chance of promotion this season.

Postives, which were few and far between, that could be taken from the game were that both loanees, Bart-Williams and Mahon did well in their debuts, but it was not enough to inspire a poor Town side to anything other than a depressing 4-1 defeat.

West Brom: Hoult, Haas, Clement, Sigurdsson, Gaardsoe, Volmer, O'Conner (Johnson 80), Gregan, Koumas (Sakiri 64), Hughes (Dobie 70), Hulse. Unused Subs: Murphy N'Dour.

Ipswich Town: Davis, Wilnis, Diallo, Naylor, Richards, Wright, Magilton, Bart-Williams, Mahon (Bowditch 78), Counago (D Bent 46), Armstrong (Santos 74). Unused Subs: Westlake, Price.

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