By Stuart Kidson
March 16 2003

The saying goes 'Its never over till the fat lady sings', unfortunately for Baggies fans everywhere the notes of some aria were being practiced deep underneath the East Stand at The Hawthorns. West Bromwich Albion v Chelsea
Sunday 16th March 2003

The saying goes 'Its never over till the fat lady sings', unfortunately for
Baggies fans everywhere the notes of some aria were being practiced deep
underneath the East Stand at The Hawthorns. Claudio Ranieri bought along
his foreign legion to the Venue of Legends and, just like another famous
Italian leader years ago, Came, Saw and finally Conquered.

Despite a bright start by the Baggies in the clear March sunshine, it was
the class of the visitors that finally shone through with some sublime and
intricate play that saw them move back into the Champions League places at
the top of the table and at the same time consigning the Baggies to the
depths of the relegation fight, some 8 points away from safety.

Returnee Jason Roberts had the packed stadium on its feet within 45 seconds
when he lashed in a left footed volley from the edge of the box after fellow
returnee Igor Balis had raced past a stranded Graeme Le Saux and sent over a
cross from the right. Chelsea Captain John Terry could only slice the ball
towards the waiting Roberts, but his shot was wide of the mark. The
expectancy of the home support went through the roof.

Essex referee Mr. Andy D'Urso had the home fans on their feet minutes later
when Terry was seen by 27,024 others in the stadium to have wrapped his arms
around Derek McInnes's neck and thrown the former rangers man to the floor.
Despite being no more than 20 feet from the incident Mr. D'Urso failed to
act (again) and nothing was given (as usual). The now familiar chant of
'The Premiership is full of cheats' rang out from the Smethwick End and was
soon booming around the stadium from all stands.

D'Urso again displayed ineptitude beyond belief minutes later when Roberts
played Lee Hughes through with a clear run on goal before being hacked down
by a lunging tackle from Melchiot. The referee denied the Baggies the
advantage even though Hughsie was bearing down on goal and called for the
ball to be bought back for a free kick.

The problems started for the Baggies after 14 minutes when Darren Moore was
stretchered off clutching his left knee following an innocent challenge
from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. Things got worse when 90 seconds later
McInnes was seen limping and holding his thigh and was substituted along
with Moore. Ronnie Wallwork and James Chambers moved into midfield with
Captain Sean Gregan dropping into the back three.

The game rapidly degenerated into a scrappy stop-start affair and it was not
until the 23rd minute that anything of value happened. Hasselbaink robbed
Gregan of possession after the defender had trouble dealing with a awkward
bounce on the ball. The Dutch international raced into the Albion area with
only Russell Hoult to beat and unleashed a thunderbolt shot which bought out
yet another world class save from the Baggies keeper.

Chelsea's next effort came from a free kick 25 yards out when Gregan had
been deemed to have impeded a Chelsea forward. Tiny Italian Gianfranco Zola
curled his free kick over the Baggies wall but failed to find the mark as
Houlty safely gathered the ball under the crossbar.

The Baggies looked, at this point to have given up on the game completely
and they struggled to retain possession of the ball as Melchiot on the right
and Le Saux on the left stemmed any advances down the flanks and Frank
Lampard and Jody Morris stopped any advances down the middle of the park.
Carlo Cudicini, in the Blues goal, had his quietest half of the season so
far.

The goal came on 38 minutes when a corner by Le Saux was nodded home by an
unmarked Mario Stanic. The Hawthorns crowd, which had up until now given as
good as they got from the Chelsea faithful, was silenced. The effect of the
goal was felt throughout the stadium and thinking back now was probably the
realisation that we, as supporters, now face the long trips to Gillingham
and Norwich next season and will not be dining at the high table of English
soccer for at least a season.

One last effort from Chelsea saw Lampard strike a stunning drive goal bound
from 25 yards but Houlty was well positioned and caught the ball at chest
height. D'Urso blew for halftime and like a punch drunk boxer the Baggies
left the pitch.

Gary Megson changed the side at halftime when he replaced Ifeyani Udeze with
Danny Dichio. A new system of 4 - 3 - 3 was employed and paid immediate
results as Chelsea struggled to come to terms with the change. The Baggies
looked set to repeat previous games by coming alive during the second half
as they did against Bolton and Charlton. However, the changes did nothing
to test Cudicini as a resolute Chelsea defence were more than capable to
withstand the onslaught.

Chelsea could have been two up when Hasselbaink pounced on a defensive error
between Larus Sigurdsson and Wallwork. Again outpacing the defence,
Hasselbaink found himself clear on goal but Houlty stood up well to the
challenge and spread himself well, blocking the shot with his legs.

Chelsea's second came in the 55th minute when the mercurial Zola, who had
looked more and more dangerous as the game went on, exchanged a one-two with
Hasselbaink and then calmly slotted home the ball past a diving Hoult into
the bottom right hand corner. The Chelsea travelling support launched into
their own tribute of the swift footed Italian as he ran to acknowledge their
cheers and the only sound to be heard was the massed ranks singing
'Gianfranco Zola' to the tune of the old disco classic 'I Love You Baby'.

Again the Baggies rallied and pressed ever forward but to no avail. The
failure of the three forwards to penetrate the solid Blue defence bought
about a round of chants from the disgruntled Baggies faithful that should
leave manager Megson in no doubt about who the ever loyal Baggies faithful
want to see included in the starting line up for future games. 'Su-u-u-per,
SuperBob' rang out from The Smethwick End and was quickly taken up by the
East Stand, the Brummie Road End soon followed suit and even the placid
Halfords Lane Stand took up the cry.

On the pitch Chelsea had slipped into cruise control and were able to deal
with anything that the Baggies could throw at them and could have extended
their lead when substitute Jesper Gronkjaer shot from the left but the ball
was still rising as it cleared the crossbar.

Zola again produced that magic that has turned games for Chelsea in the past
when he jinked and ducked on the edge of the box. His footwork left poor
Igor Balis tied up in knots before his almost cheeky back heel to
Hasselbaink set the Dutchman up for the shot. The mastery of control and
awareness of the little Italian bought an appreciative round of applause
from the Baggies in the East Stand who knew they had just witnessed one of
those magical moments.

Albion came alive 15 minutes from time when Jason Koumas shot just inches
wide after Jason Roberts had battled his way through the defence. Cudicini
was then forced to make his first real save of the game moments later when
he had to dive full stretch to palm away another Koumas effort after the
Welsh International had produced his own brand of magic against Enrique De
Lucas and William Gallas. The resultant corner caused a rare moment of
panic in the Chelsea defence and looked like the Baggies may have pulled a
goal back when Siggy's shot looked goal bound. However, Jason Roberts could
not get out of the way quick enough and blocked the shot.

Koumas again forced defensive errors following another free kick when
Melchiot and Desailly miskicked the ball but Cudicini was on hand to spare
the red faces of the two defenders.

All in all it was disappointing performance by the Baggies who were given
the run-around by a superior team on the day. The long term prospects for
the Baggies look likely to be in the Nationwide and not the Premiership for
next season.

Man of the Match selected by Jake Kidson, 10 of Smethwick - Russell Hoult

Team: Russell Hoult, Neil Clement, Darren Moore ( 15 ), Larus Sigurdsson,
Igor Balis, Ifeyani Udeze ( 45), Derek McInnes ( 15 ), Sean Grgan (Capt),
Jason Koumas, Jason Roberts, Lee Hughes

Subs: Joe Murphy, Scott Dobie, Ronnie Wallwork ( 15 ), James Chambers (
15 ), Danny Dichio ( 45 )