Friday, July 30, 2010

Bristol City 2 West Brom 1: No boing for the Baggies as graduation follow hits strike in the highway

Chris Iwelumo"s 100th career goal stunned West Bromwich and left their manager Roberto Di Matteo worrying whether his squad can cope with the demands of a promotion run-in.

The Scottish striker, on loan from Albion"s rivals Wolves, had been waiting 10 months to reach the landmark after a season ruined by two broken metatarsals.

But his tap-in from two yards, after Lee Johnson"s curling corner wasn"t cleared, could be even more significant for Di Matteo"s hopes of winning promotion in his first season in charge.

 Chris Iwelumo

On target: Striker Chris Iwelumo equalised for Bristol City in the second-half

Cruising after Graham Dorrans" first-half goal, Albion looked certainties for the win which would have lifted them back into the automatic promotion places.

But after the break Dorrans, who had been running the show, all but disappeared as Iwelumo"s 55th- minute strike, followed by a Johnson tap-in just three minutes later, turned the game on its head.

Albion should have been on level terms after 65 minutes when Roman Bednar crossed for Andwele Slory, who fluffed his finish from around six yards.

Bristol City manager Gary Johnson

Winning feeling: Bristol City manager Gary Johnson saw his side claim all three points for the first time in seven games

Di Matteo"s players have no time to rest before an FA Cup replaywith Reading on Wednesday and he admitted: "With the amount of games weare playing, there is some tiredness creeping in.

"It"s nota surprise to me because I know the demands which are put on players inthis division but it is very tough when you have the number of playersmissing that we have. Both physical and mental tiredness become aproblem when you play so many games, they go together.

0 comments:

Post a Comment