By Stuart Kidson
October 1 2003

Local and National press have labelled The Hawthorns as Fortress Hawthorns as the Baggies recorded their sixth straight home win in all competitions. West Bromwich Albion (2) v Millwall (1)
The Hawthorns, Tuesday 30th September 2003

Albion extended their winning sequence at the Hawthorns to six consecutive wins as they faced Millwall in this evening fixture bringing the London teams 3 game winning streak to an end. First half strikes by Jason Koumas and Scott Dobie were just rewards for the best Albion team performance of the season so far. The Baggies joy was to be tinged with regret though as Jason Koumas tore his hamstring after just 8 minutes and looks set to be out for the next few weeks.

An unchanged Baggies side took the field with Lee Hughes returning to the bench following his short illness at the weekend alongside Sekou Berthe the big former Lyon defender.

Rob Hulse caused concern in the opening minutes as the Baggies attacked the Brummie Road End, when he was floored by a challenge and lay flat out on the Hawthorns turf. The magic sponge was bought out and the £750,000 bargain buy from Crewe was soon firing on all cylinders as Albion took the game to Millwall.

Phil Gilchrist, making his third successive start this season, almost caused the first upset when he fired a long ball up field. Millwall keeper Tony Warner raced from his line to head the ball clear but it somehow skimmed the top of his head and went back towards his own goal. Luckily for the Lions keeper, Stuart Nethercott was on hand to clear and save the keepers blushes.

Bernt Haas set off, minutes later, on a run down the right hand side but his progress was stopped. The loose ball fell to Koumas who immediately set off on a jinking run across the face of the Millwall area from right to left. The Millwall defence were powerless to stop him and when the opportunity presented itself Koumas unleashed a stunning left footed shot that left Warner rooted to the spot as it sailed past and settled in the back of the net.

Unfortunately for the Baggies this was to be the last of Koumas’s involvement in the game as minutes later he was clutching the back of his thigh following another mazy run at the Lions defenders. News filtered through later that he has torn his hamstring and the earliest he will be back will be for the top of the table clash at home against Neil Warnock’s Sheffield United.

All eyes fell upon the bench to see who would replace the Welsh Wizard and Sekou Berthe was bought on for his home debut. The change meant that captain Sean Gregan was now moved into midfield with Big Bertha going straight into defence.

Haas, who was playing Champions League football last season with Grasshoppers, continued his run of good performances and was again soon pushing himself forward down the right. It was following a Haas cross that the Baggies doubled their lead on 23 minutes when Nethercott failed to clear the ball from in front of goal. The ball looped upwards and Scott Dobie, making his second successive start, headed back across the face of the goal into the top right hand corner.

The Albion were in total control of the game and the ground was beginning to buzz as the Stars in Stripes produced some wonderful one touch football in midfield as they again pushed Millwall back. James O’Connor was involved in a personal battle with Dennis Wise across the middle of the park, with each giving as good as they got from each other but Millwall were finding it difficult to find a way around the Baggies defence.

The travelling support from South East London were few in numbers but they did make a lot of noise, especially with their trademark ‘No-one Likes Us But We Don’t Care’ song but the night belonged to the Albion and the Smethwick End lead the singing all through the game.

Warner did well to prevent the Baggies going three up when he dealt with a well hit shot from Andy Johnson and again minutes later when former Ipswich defender Thomas Gaardsoe hit a thunderous shot straight at him. The third time he was called upon to try and prevent the game degenerating into a rout came shortly after as Haas hit a low shot which Warner got down to well and parried for a corner.

With less than three minutes remaining on the clock Millwall were awarded a corner and the Baggies were caught sleeping as Nethercott went some way to making amends for his error which lead to Albion’s second when he stabbed the loose ball across the line and the Lions drew one back.

The second half saw a different attitude from Millwall and they looked a livelier prospect than in the first half. The Baggies came out looking a far more cautious side than in the first half and it was clear that the late goal by Millwall had dented the confidence a little.

Albion seemed to have lost that sparkle that they had in abundance during the first half, but they were still going to prove to be a difficult team to break down. Playing a little too deep in places allowed Millwall more of the ball but the defenders did their job well and kept the visitors at bay with some crunching tackles from Gilchrist, Gaardsoe and Berthe. Russell Hoult was called into play just once for a save of real worth when Paul Ifill hit a low strike which the East Midlands based keeper held onto.

Albion did enough in the second half to prevent any real threat coming from Millwall and after the game Gary Megson said of his teams performance:

“Terrific, that’s what we are after. We didn’t set those targets but we do know that if you are going to have any form of success you are going to have to have a very strong home record. We have got a very big advantage at this place which is the amount and quality of the support we can put into it. The two tend to rub off on each other and six wins out of six is very good.”

Man of the Match, selected by Joe Evans, 16, of Smethwick – Phil Gilchrist

Teams
BAGGIES: Hoult, Gilchrist, Gregan, Gaardsoe, Haas, Johnson, O’Connor, Koumas, Clement, Dobie, Hulse
Subs: Murphy, Hughes, Dichio, Sakiri, Berthe

MILLWALL: Warner, Lawrence, Nethercott, Ward, Craig, Ifill, Cahill, Wise, Livermore, Harris, Peeters
Subs: Gueret, Roberts, Dunne, Whelan, Robinson