Lewis Cox and Jonny Drury give their take on Albion's 1-0 win over Plymouth.
Albion hit the post three times in a frustrating first period for Carlos Corberan's side.
Plymouth also had chances and started the second half better, before Albion broke the deadlock through Josh Maja.
Corberan's side then had to withstand late pressure to grind out the three points.
Albion hit the post three times in a frustrating first period for Carlos Corberan's side.
Plymouth also had chances and started the second half better, before Albion broke the deadlock through Josh Maja.
Corberan's side then had to withstand late pressure to grind out the three points.
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00:00Batgeese fans, welcome to ExpressAndStart.com at another very happy, but quite wet haul for us today.
00:15Albion have won for the fifth time in the first six games of the campaign.
00:19Back to the summit of the championship, thanks to another Josh Madrigal, the sixth of the season.
00:25Coxey, far from vintage, but three points is three points.
00:30Yeah, hard fought, wasn't it? Gritty in the end. They didn't need to hang on, really.
00:37Plymouth kept asking questions, didn't they? To their credit, to the end.
00:40I thought Plymouth looked a decent little side, a handy outfit, to be honest.
00:43I thought Rooney's got them playing some decent stuff. Looked lively, nimble, didn't they?
00:48But how much did they test Alex Farmer, really?
00:51Even at the end there, you can think of one easy claim from a tame header, one that went well wide.
00:58It was a little bit nervy, wasn't it? Which is not good for any of our tickers in mid-September.
01:05It's going to be a long season in that regard.
01:08Not as comfortable, really, as a 1-0 could be. I think Albion were good value for the win.
01:14But we were made to wait, weren't we? Patience, I think, was the order of the day.
01:19In terms of the players, in terms of fans, maybe.
01:21But there is still that undercurrent of belief and confidence, I think, around this season.
01:26Even with the score at 0-0. And Albion hadn't started the second half well, had they?
01:31Let's be honest. Obviously, Josh Madger, as you mentioned, gets the winner just after the hour.
01:35But there hadn't been a good 15 minutes, really, until then.
01:38Corbijn had rightly readied the changes, I think. Obviously, Johnson and Grady were coming on.
01:43But Madger's a man at the moment, isn't he? He's absolutely the man.
01:48I'll have to look this up, but I'll have to go back some to find a start to the season like that for Albion striker.
01:54Six in six games. He does so much. We'll get on to this later in the week.
01:58But he does so much good, doesn't he, Madger, in terms of how he can bring teammates into the game.
02:03His technique. I just spoke to Wayne Rooney about him there.
02:06Rooney's had some very nice things to say about him, as has Carlos.
02:11But he's also been a fox in the box there, hasn't he?
02:14Six-yard box to tap home into an empty net from Rakic's excellent cross of the full debutant making his first start today.
02:22So, yeah, a bit of a nutshell there for you. But, look, good one.
02:26Good one. It'll weigh in to five in six, as you say.
02:29Yet another clean sheet here. Yet to concede.
02:32And unbeaten on top of the pile, don't they?
02:34Unbeaten on top of the pile, indeed. Three points.
02:37You know, Plymouth at times were good today. They've got good players going forward.
02:40The likes of Morgan Whittaker. However, did Albion kind of...
02:44Look, I played devil's advocate and I'm having one negative thing to say.
02:49Did Albion kind of invite the pressure that they then had to stave off in the first half?
02:54Needless errors in possession. And in the second half, certainly before the goal anyway, needless errors in possession.
03:01And they left a lot of space for Plymouth to attack at certain periods.
03:05Which we haven't kind of seen in the first few weeks.
03:08Yeah, yeah. I thought Albion were a little bit messy at times today in defence and maybe centre midfield for parts.
03:14A little bit of just a lack of technique every now and then or a decision-making sort of wrong idea, something like that.
03:22Carlos said to me in there, I said patience earlier, he actually said insistence.
03:26Like, let's have it right. That first half, it was nil-nil at the break.
03:29But Albion in the post three times, didn't they?
03:32Plymouth looked dangerous, looked a threat, but Albion created enough.
03:36I say would work three times. There was one disallowed, rightly for offside.
03:40Created enough to have a significant lead, I think, and to have it wrapped up really.
03:44But it wasn't to be. It's not always going to be, is it?
03:46So that insistence that the head coach mentions is sort of keep the faith, keep the belief that you can go again and again.
03:52Do the same things, do the right things and you'll be rewarded.
03:55It'll come and it did today after the hour.
03:58You make a fair point. I mean, regards to Plymouth and how they set up, how they played.
04:02Corbijn actually said in there just now that it caught Albion, they were a bit surprised.
04:06And he said we were a bit slow to adapt to the type of game it was.
04:10And he said in the week, Carlos, Plymouth are a team that Rooney has built to attack inside, not give too much.
04:17We spoke in a video earlier in the week, didn't we, Thor, on the defensive game.
04:22But he actually said Plymouth were happy to come here and set up quite low and big counterattack game.
04:27And I think we saw that today. We saw Plymouth happy to, your favourite word, transition quickly down the other end of the pitch.
04:34And it almost caught Albion a couple of times.
04:36Those modern phrases.
04:37Yeah, well, yeah. And Carlos said, look, it took us a little while to really adjust to the type of game it was.
04:44And different to how we sort of thought it would be, how we prepared for it.
04:48So that's maybe a little area to improve.
04:50He said to me there, we can learn to adjust to a different type of game, to how we think it is.
04:57Game sort of management, maybe something to work on.
04:59But Plymouth may be a different side to most.
05:02Albion will come against us this season.
05:03Obviously, we'll have the return to home park at some point.
05:06But an interesting side, I thought.
05:08I just think it's too much and too much of a reaction to say it felt like a significant win.
05:14But it was a different way.
05:16A different type of win.
05:18No one will remember this game in a few months.
05:21Will they? Plymouth at home, 1-0.
05:23In the same breath.
05:24I put on Twitter before that, ironically, but last season I don't think Albion had won that game.
05:30I thought it would have been 0-0.
05:31And someone tweeted me back saying it was 0-0.
05:33But you kind of get the gist of this season.
05:35There seems that little bit of extra quality, that extra fibre.
05:39I know they made the subs after the goal.
05:41But just those players to come on and see the game.
05:45Even if it's not a high-quality game.
05:49Like last week in terms of the goals.
05:51Yeah, loads of goals.
05:53I get your point.
05:54It was a perfectly timed goal, really.
05:56Because the cavalry were being readied.
05:58Albion had to turn to them.
06:00Because from 46-60, I don't think it was great at all.
06:05Carlos said he saw a couple of good moments before the goal.
06:08Not 100% that I can recall.
06:10I thought it was quite messy, really.
06:13The start to the second half was poor, wasn't it?
06:15Yeah.
06:16But it was perfect, wasn't it?
06:18And almost ironic.
06:19The subs were literally standing there about to get on, weren't they?
06:22And then Rakic was sent down the right.
06:24Whips in a wonderful low cross, really.
06:26And Magic.
06:27Great movement from him.
06:28Absolutely brilliant in the 6-yard box.
06:30And then he could hardly miss, could he?
06:32A little quick word on Rakic.
06:34Obviously, his first start.
06:35Wasn't at a full debut for the serve.
06:37Took a while to get into it.
06:38But when he did, he showed real good signs.
06:40Good and bad.
06:41Hit and miss, really.
06:42I think he did well overall.
06:43Fine overall.
06:44The assist caps it off for him.
06:46Decent energy.
06:47Some good touches.
06:48Some bad ones.
06:49A little bit of cross.
06:50It felt like he was trying to do the right thing.
06:53And it wasn't quite on at times for him in that first half.
06:55But good moments as well.
06:57And got a good reception, didn't he?
06:59With 20 minutes to go when he came off.
07:01And a lot more to come from him.
07:02I asked Carlos about him in there.
07:04And the head coach said, look, late signing in the window.
07:07Played before him.
07:09What is it?
07:10Italy, Spain.
07:11Different countries.
07:12A little bit of time to adjust, which I think is fair.
07:16Encouraging news on Molumbi.
07:18He's not too bad at all.
07:20So, options.
07:22These minutes and certainly starts for Rakic.
07:25So useful, aren't they?
07:27And a word for Diakite coming on.
07:29Obviously with Molumbi not around today.
07:32With Rakic starting.
07:33Another new signing in Diakite had to come on for 20 minutes or so, didn't he?
07:36Won a couple of big challenges.
07:38I think all the subs, again, did a job.
07:42They had that normal kind of 1-0.
07:47Tends to see a side go deep late on, doesn't it?
07:50And sort of almost invite pressure when it's 1-0.
07:53And you kind of think, well, carry on attacking.
07:55And Albion tried to counter, didn't they?
07:57There were a couple of moments.
07:58I remember one late on when it was 3-on-3 and Jed Wallace.
08:01And it couldn't quite find the cross with two colleagues.
08:05Three and Plymouth were threatening to break down the other end.
08:07But, yeah, that tends to happen in 1-0 games, doesn't it?
08:11But I don't think Albion were too stretched at the end there, were they?
08:14Despite a little bit of nerves, understandable.
08:17But great to see the outcome of the day really going back top of the pile.
08:20Because Sunderland had nicked it, hadn't they?
08:22With that early kick-off win over Bora, was it?
08:24In the derby up there.
08:26So Bora to come here next, aren't they?
08:28In a week on Tuesday.
08:29So that'll be a tasty one, I think.
08:31A real test.
08:32And obviously Sheffield Wednesday in the early one next Saturday.
08:35We'll be there at Hillsborough, of course.
08:37We really did.
08:38I'm not going to tell Tony Bum and Brian that you said the word transition.
08:40He's going to be after you.
08:41Yeah, sorry.
08:43Baggage fans, a different type of win today, but a win nonetheless.
08:46Albion won, Plymouth nil.
08:48For all the rest of your reaction, head over to expressandstart.com.