By Stuart Kidson
October 22 2003

12 Wimbledon fans made the trek from South London or Milton keynes to watch their team turn over The Baggies. Frustrated fans booed the home side at the end. West Bromwich Albion (0) v Wimbledon (1)
The Hawthorns, Tuesday 21st October 2003

Despite adopting a siege mentality to their game last night the Baggies fell victim to a sucker punch from the Divisions bottom placed team who recorded their first win of the season.

Gary Megson fielded an unchanged side to that which beat Norwich on Saturday and expectations were high that the Albion would win comfortably and reclaim top spot in the Division. Local radio personality Paul Franks, of BBC Radio WM, predicted a high scoring game for the Albion and this view was held by many amongst the 22,036 Albion fans inside the ground.

The Albion should have taken the lead in the 10th minute when a corner from the right by Jason Koumas fell straight to an unmarked Bernt Haas just outside the six yard box, but the header was weak and Paul Heald in goal for the Dons easily dealt with the threat.

The Dons had pulled every player back to defend as the Albion laid siege to the Wimbledon goal but the Baggies could not break past this formidable wall of red shirts that even saw Dean Holdsworth back defending against the onslaught of Albion pressure.

Wimbledon had suffered a heavy 6 - 0 defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest at the weekend and seemed to be hell bent on preventing a reoccurrence of the score line, especially for the 12 fans who had made the journey north to see their Dons in action. Megson tried to adapt the team to deal with this mass defending by moving Sean Gregan into midfield and playing with a 4-4-2 system.

The move paid immediate rewards as Haas found his way around the defenders and sent in a low cross. Scott Dobie looked odds on to score as he slid into make contact with the ball but Nico Herzig blocked the way and the ball found its way to Heald.

It was the same defender who saved the day minutes later when Rob Hulse was the target for another Haas cross but the Dons player snuffed the move out before Hulse could react. Koumas then sent over a cross but the ball was hit too hard and it sailed over the waiting players and went wide of the far post.

Wimbledon managed to break out of their own half on 37 minutes when Paul Robinson's mistake was capitalised on by Nigel Reo-Coker. Reo-Coker unleashed a shot from 25 yards out but his effort went just wide of the Baggies upright.

Albion soon had the Dons pegged back in their own half and it was Haas again who was to play the role of provider. His run down the right saw the ball fall just inside the box for Koumas who was being closely marked by three defenders. It took a blink of an eye and Koumas had found enough space to fire off a right footed shot which hit the side netting of the Wimbledon goal.

Sean Gregan was next to try his luck following another corner when he thumped the ball towards goal from just inside the box, but again Heald was equal to the shot and held the ball well.

Albion were relentless in their pursuit of the opening goal but it was to be Heald's night as he produced some top drawer saves to keep the Stars in Stripes at bay. First he denied Thomas Gaardsoe from scoring when he tipped over the Danish defenders header from another Koumas corner and minutes later following the second corner from this period he held onto yet another rocket powered shot from Gregan from 20 yards.

Albion went into the break frustrated at not being able to break down the dogged defending by the visitors and changes were made during the break.

Artim Sakiri replaced Ronnie Wallwork in the hope that the Macedonian captain could produce some of the flair he is noted for in midfield. Koumas went out wide on the left for the second half in the hope he could work his way around the back of the defence.

Albion were again soon piling the pressure onto the Dons and Koumas was unlucky to see his 20 yard free kick towards the Brummie Road End goal go just inches wide of the far post early in the half.

Dobie, who had been the busier of the two strikers for the Albion, was replaced by crowd favourite Lee Hughes on 57 minutes, and the Ginger Ninja was soon in the thick of the action.

Koumas and Neil Clement, who had replaced Robinson, linked up down the left to send a wonderful through ball for Hughes to run onto. His cross from the by-line fell behind the onrushing james O'Connor and the little midfielder could only try to acrobatically steer the ball towards goal in a similar way to Rene Agquita's famous scorpion save against England a few seasons ago. However the ball was always going to go over and it sailed into the BRE Stand.

The Baggies frustartions continued minutes later when Clement crossed a low ball in for Hughes but the ball was agonisingly out of the strikers reach when he had just the keeper to beat. Koumas then hit a right footed shot that took a deflection off a Dons player and went out for a corner. Gaardsoe was guilty of wasting the best chance of the night so far from Sakiri's flag kick when he headed wide from inside the six yard box.

Hulse was next for the Baggies to try and grab the elusive goal when he beat Heald to the ball from a low cross from the right, but unfortunately he lost his footing before he could turn and poke the ball over the line and the Dons cleared the ball.

Wimbledon had not troubled Hoult throughout the second half and when Patrick Agyemang picked up the ball from Wade Small thoughts of a Wimbledon goal were the furthest thoughts from anyones mind as the Baggies had defended well throughout. Gaardsoe made a challenge and the ball fell loose inside the box. Phil Gilchrist, who had marshalled the defence superbly throughout, fluffed his clearance which hit a Dons player and fell straight to Joel McAnuff who was unmarked 10 yards from goal. He took a touch to steady himself and hit a shot straight past Hoult into the top left hand corner. The 12 Dons fans celebrated with their team and the rest of the Hawthorns fell into a deadly and stunned silence.

Albion were now chasing the game and looking for an equaliser with 10 minutes remaining. Clement hit a 35 yard screamer but Helad was again equal to the shot. Albion kept probing but the Dons were not going to lose their lead and again had every man behind the ball for the last 10 minutes. The game was effectively over when Sakiri could only manage to poke the ball wide of the upright with the Don's keeper stranded at the other post and Wimbledon finally won a game away from home.

Albion lacked any ideas and resorted to long range shots and set pieces to try and get a goal but it was not going to be their night. The frustration felt by the fans was evident on the final whistle when Megson and his men were booed by the home fans as they left the pitch with many now questioning the selections made this season by Megson.

If I was pushed to nominate a player for the Man of the Match I would have to select Phil Gilchrist for his solid work in defence, but for me the real star at the Hawthorns was Paul Heald in goal for the Dons.

Baggies Man of the Match - Phil Gilchrist

Dons Man of the Match - Paul Heald

Teams
BAGGIES: Hoult, Gregan, Gaardsoe, Gilchrist, Haas, Wallwork, O'Connor, Koumas, Robinson, Hulse, Dobie
Subs Hughes, Sakiri, Clement, Volmer, Murphey

WIMBLEDON: Heald, Kamara, Herzig, Leigertwood, Hawkins, McAnuff, Small, Chorley, Reo-Coker, Tapp, Holdsworth
Subs Gier, Agyemang, Worgan, Nowland, Gray