Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox give their take on Albion's final day victory against Preston.
Albion needed a point on the final day to secure a spot in the play-offs - but sauntered to a 3-0 win at The Hawthorns.
Alex Mowatt put West Brom ahead in first half stoppage time - before further goals from Kyle Bartley and Darnell Furlong.
Albion needed a point on the final day to secure a spot in the play-offs - but sauntered to a 3-0 win at The Hawthorns.
Alex Mowatt put West Brom ahead in first half stoppage time - before further goals from Kyle Bartley and Darnell Furlong.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Hello, Baggies fans. Welcome to Express and start.com at the final game of the regular
00:14 championship season. Luckily it will not be Albion's final game of the season. They secured
00:19 their place in the playoffs with a three no win here against Preston. I think I said in
00:23 a tweet that crawled towards the line and then sprinted over it with a comprehensive
00:27 three no win today. Coxie, select crowd, great atmosphere, had all the makings of what could
00:33 be a potentially nervy day, but professional, thorough and they just got the job done at
00:40 the end. Three words, I think, never in doubt. I don't know. Try, try telling that to some,
00:47 some support after Sheppard wins. They were, you know, I've just said to you off, off camera,
00:51 I've just put a piece on, on the Express and Start website saying Albion were ice cold
00:56 and I think they were throughout. It was a bit frustrating at first half, but that second
01:00 half, like you said, that's certainly that second half, never in doubt.
01:03 Yeah. Well, I think started the game well, first 10 minutes, maybe waned a little bit,
01:09 had a quieter 15, maybe 20 minutes and the early atmosphere and it was loud, wasn't it?
01:16 You said to me, you thought it was louder than the dark, the black country Derby in
01:19 Jan and it was loud, but that's always going to sort of die down a little bit if the action
01:23 slows up, which it did. But the timing at the end of the first half was ideal today,
01:29 wasn't it? Really whole obviously falling behind. I know it didn't matter what happened
01:34 in the whole game at the end, did it? But as soon as Plymouth scored, you know, the
01:37 Smevic knew about it like that, didn't they? And the whole place sort of gathered energy
01:41 again and then to win a penalty in first off stoppage time. It was perfect, wasn't it?
01:46 And Alex Moat dispatches it perfectly, nerveless, but I mean, the second half was a procession.
01:52 I look back on some of my notes and for a couple of minutes into the second half, Preston
01:57 are scrambling it away from their own goal mouth, six yard box, you know, scramble and
02:02 I'm going to just on them and you forget Thomas Assange missed a city in the first half, didn't
02:07 he? As well as the one he scooped over in the second period. So this is a game I've
02:11 been could have won five or six quite comfortably. I think when the second goal goes in, what?
02:15 When did that go in? On the hour, Preston went nowhere to be seen. Were they for the
02:21 finale and Albion was strolling and bringing players on and it was a great occasion. And
02:25 it's it was lovely to see the lap of appreciation. Just like Carlos Corbett in there for the
02:29 press conference. And yeah, just rightly so. So satisfied. So pleased and proud. You could
02:36 tell he said some lovely things that you'll be able to read soon and mission accomplished,
02:40 to be honest. And, you know, everyone, I think, felt a little bit of unease, rightly so. After
02:45 the three defeats last week was bad, wasn't it? Let's be honest. We know less to exceptionally
02:51 well game for those red card. But last week was bad. And to respond to that, pretty nerveless
02:58 today. You said ice cold, nerveless. I said professional to Carlos and he he couldn't
03:02 agree more with that. So no credit, credit to them. And also, which all is right with
03:08 the universe. When I've been a fifth, you know, so maybe that was meant to be. They
03:13 needed to reference it in a couple of pieces already. You know, questions reared their
03:19 ugly head last week about sort of desire and character. And quite rightly, I thought after
03:24 such a dismal display at Sheffield Wednesday, they needed maybe the senior players to lead
03:27 from the front today. And I think that, yeah, you know, all three goal scorers were quite
03:32 senior players in the size. And I thought there was some good performances. Obviously,
03:36 Mikey Johnston was stunning again, but, you know, Donald Furlong, who Carlos Corbett,
03:40 Max Lirical about in there, but the big experienced players, even Jed Wallace come off the bench
03:45 and sort of help them to see the game out. They needed that experience and they kind
03:49 of got it.
03:50 Yeah, I sensed from the press conference on Thursday, we spoke to Carlos and Jed Wallace.
03:55 I sensed it had been a big week at the training ground behind the scenes. I mean, Jed sort
04:00 of he's always honest, but he pulled no punches in saying, you know, he didn't just say we're
04:05 fired up for the sake of it. Sometimes you get cliched chat with footballers. But, you
04:09 know, he said, look, training's been on it. You need a needle. Really competitive. There's
04:16 been frustration that we're here on this last day with it in the balance. And, yeah, I heard
04:20 it was a lively week in training and those those leaders within the squad and Carlos
04:25 Corbett has maybe not built the right, not the right word because it's a squad he inherited,
04:30 but he's fostered a group with strong leadership, I think. And you're right, came to the fore
04:36 today. I mean, Furlong's consistency this season has been pretty impressive and the
04:41 head coach certainly agrees. But yeah, last week it wasn't and it wasn't necessarily an
04:48 idiot reaction, but they were really cool on such a big occasion and rightly got criticism
04:55 for that. But I think and the form wasn't brilliant overall, was it? One winning seven.
05:00 So obviously that was on the back of being 10 unbeaten. So it's funny how quickly it
05:04 can, you know, sort of storylines can change. But the consistency over the course of the
05:09 season and the effort levels and application and that we can dissect the squad and the
05:14 quality of it, the lack of quality in places, all of that. We can talk about that to the
05:19 cows, can't we? But the application and consistency to remain in the same spot, you know, while
05:26 other clubs are falling apart, really impressive, I think. And today and what's to come again
05:32 against Southampton, as we can say now, is nothing more than Albion deserved, really.
05:37 All attention now turns to next Sunday and we'll just finish off briefly talking about
05:42 that because we're going to do a lot of talking about it this week. It's kind of I had a chat
05:47 with a fan outside. It's kind of win win now because I'll be unexpected to playoffs for
05:52 me. You know, maybe if they win and Norwich win, you know, they could be favourites in
05:58 a potential playoff final. But everyone's expecting Southampton to win next week. I'll
06:02 be there in the playoffs. You know, they've had a terrific season on the field, but a
06:05 terrific season in the end off the field. Yeah, yeah. That's a good position to be sat
06:10 in because the pressure is all on Southampton. No, you're right. I mean, this is all to come
06:16 for people to read. But I ask Carlos in there about Southampton being favourites and that
06:20 doesn't take a genius, does it? And I think I've been fairly happy for Southampton to
06:24 be favourites, to be honest. And you're right. The wider football, you know, those who look
06:28 at the championship will have seen having kind of fifth all season struggling to challenge
06:33 fourth didn't really ever get near fourth, did they? And that's fair. They didn't. However,
06:37 I think we know in what not all eight games, I was going to say all eight games against
06:43 the four sides above them. But other than Southampton here, maybe maybe in six or seven
06:48 of the games being competitive and writing those games, I don't know. There have been
06:52 some draws, some victories, unfortunately not against Southampton. Look, we know two
06:56 on at St. Mary's, two or three now here. Is it two? Two? I think. Yeah. Yeah. We don't
07:03 want to relive that yet. We'll be over the coming days. But Carlos Corbijn well remembers
07:07 his fifth minute red card that night. The night of Shillam Patel, that was, wasn't it?
07:13 So almost like there was a bit of a sideshow with the ownership celebrations. Look, there
07:19 is a debate about being six facing Leeds instead. I know a few would have preferred that, but
07:25 it's felt like it was going to be fifth against fourth. I've been Southampton for a while,
07:28 hasn't it? And I know that wobbled of late, but yeah, I think the way I've been performing
07:34 at St. Mary's offers hope that they can be, that Albion can get at them. They deserve
07:40 to take something from it. I think the game here when Southampton were far the better
07:44 team, there were contributing factors that could have gone. There were decisions when
07:47 I remember losing Corbijn early in the game. There's a massive impact on that massive.
07:53 There is no getting away from that. I'm not saying necessarily a game changer. Saints
07:57 were very good that night, weren't they? But it could change the complexion of it. And
08:01 Southampton are strong. Look at their squad. They've got a squad of almost Premier League
08:04 players out there, really. Definitely an uphill challenge that Albion are definitely second
08:10 favourites for. But I like being at home first. We've said that all season, haven't we, on
08:14 the pod on videos. I like being at home first. And Friday night in Southampton rather than
08:19 Thursday. So that's good for fans, at least if it goes well. That's a nice little weekend
08:24 of celebration, isn't it? And a lot to look forward to, isn't it? It's going to be a cracking
08:28 fortnight, hopefully. And hopefully back Albion to get something from here to take down there.
08:35 There we go. 46 games in and we've still got a few more to go. Albion, it was good, their
08:41 place in the playoffs. We'll see you again next Sunday. Final score here from the Hawthorns,
08:47 7-3, Preston 0. All the rest of your reaction, you know where to go over to ExpressingStar.com.