Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox give their take on West Brom's 3-1 win over Preston North End.
Josh Maja's first half brace and a goal from Callum Styles was enough to move the Baggies back into the top six.
Josh Maja's first half brace and a goal from Callum Styles was enough to move the Baggies back into the top six.
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00:00Happy New Year Baggies fans, welcome to ExpressAndStard.com, my name's Jonny Dury, I'm here at the Hawthorns
00:13with Lewis Cox after Albion have got, like we said, their 2025 off to a perfect start.
00:183-1 victory over Preston, back into 5th. What a week it's been, highs, lows, finish with
00:26a high. Yeah, good. Important to win this home game of the interim period. If we take
00:33out Bristol City last time, which was obviously Carlos Corbijn's last game, you had Derby,
00:39Sheffield United, VIX and then obviously Swansea Saturday and then Bournemouth in the Cup,
00:44so that's a fair run of aways isn't it? The likelihood is this will be the only home game
00:49under a caretaker management and for Chris Brunt in the dugout and obviously the rest
00:53of the interim team. To win the game, especially Brunt with his history here, but to use home
00:59advantage against Preston mid-table. So they're obviously not one of the worst teams in the
01:07division but Preston are where Preston always are and they're in the middle of the road.
01:11That first half, they were bad weren't they Preston? They were bad and that's why Albion
01:16were leading 3-0 at half-time and that's why it was all but game over at half-time wasn't
01:20it? And a weird second half, Albion were poor, they didn't get going, I didn't think
01:24in that second half. I just spoke to Chris Brunt about it there, there were obviously
01:27factors, the schedule, the players' fitness and all of that but they tried to rest and
01:33recover as best they could in the second half I think. It got a little bit hairy didn't
01:36it when Preston got one back with 20 odd minutes left but thankfully they couldn't get a second
01:41and it was job done in this home game and what is it, 48 hours time? We'll be on the
01:46road to South Wales I guess. In the snow I think by all accounts. So we've heard,
01:50but important to win that today. Albion started today 8th and come full-time they were 5th
01:55but it was a little bit of a different, I know I think Borough play later as we speak
01:59so it could drop to 6th but again, just quickly mentioning the head coach thing, the vacant
02:05role, if you're a would-be interested party, you're looking at this, looking at the table
02:09and thinking hmm, I'm interested in this. Especially after that display, let's talk
02:13about the forward line. Not the first half of it. The first half, the forward line, they
02:17were just clinical, exceptional, I thought Johnston and Fellowes in the first half, they
02:24have so much ammunition and Josh Madger, someone who hasn't got his just rewards in recent
02:27weeks but arguably because he wasn't in the right areas of the pitch because he was doing
02:31a sterling job in another area but he was dropping deep today, picking the ball up,
02:36his link-up play was class but he was also getting in those areas in the box and it shows
02:39just how many cups he could score for Albion when he gets in those positions because of
02:42that delivery. Yeah, I mean my opinion on Madger and Gruntz sort of said similar in
02:47there, he's always, I hate to use modern parlance so forgive me, but he's a false 9 isn't he?
02:53He's a striker that drops and all season, ever since he's been here, he's, Albion attacking
03:01young Madgers on halfway because he's been the link and we've seen that this season but
03:04he does it so well. There's no-one in this division who will do it better. I think what
03:07he did today though, he did that and got up there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And look, that's
03:11not just new today because before today he was on 10 goals but obviously he hadn't scored
03:16for a while, I think he'd been 8 games without a goal before today, which is funny because
03:20you knew he was on a bit of a drought but he does the other parts of the game so well.
03:24Didn't kind of feel like it did he? No, no, no. But he always does graft regardless, so
03:30often he's in his own half winning the ball isn't he and you're kind of thinking what,
03:33we just want you between the sticks, you know, to put it in the old onion bag. But like you
03:37say, that second goal of his today, he started it with the link on halfway and he gets there
03:42to finish it off, the ball drops to him, the first goal, okay, it's kind of a prolonged
03:47attack so he's already in that area but it was another poacher's finish with his left
03:51wasn't it, the first goal. If Madger's poachers instincts were where the rest of his game
03:58instincts were, he'd be, not just in the Premier League, I think he'd be in a top six club
04:03to be honest, I rate him that highly. So if he, look he's 12 goals now, only Norwich's
04:08Borja Sainz has 15 above him. Borja Sainz is a winger, so if you're taking him as the
04:16main competition, Madger could win this division's golden boot this season. He will obviously
04:20undoubtedly be Albion's top goalscorer and he's a joy today really and the second half
04:25was a bit of a write-off wasn't it, let's be honest. I'll carry some Chris Brunt quotes
04:29online for you to be able to read about that now, but good win, bottom line is good win,
04:35three good goals second half against limited opposition, lovely to see Callum Styles score
04:39his first goal for the club. That left side now, Styles, Johnston and Grant is quite a
04:44potent weapon I would say. Stacked, yeah, very attacking. Certainly stacked on Athens.
04:48Final one just because we're going to be recording a podcast on the way home today, we'll bring
04:52to you tomorrow morning or whenever you watch this, it'll be out on, what day is it today,
04:57is it Wednesday? Yes, it'll be out on Thursday morning. Just finally, Coxy, very briefly,
05:02rating the festive period, seven points from a possible 12. I think, we've obviously predicted
05:10more on the podcast, but I think given the upheaval, it's kind of just over a week since
05:14Carlos Corbijn left and everything was thrown up in the air, I think, Darby's stung a bit,
05:20but I don't think it's been a bad Christmas on the points total wise given what's gone
05:25on. I think after Sheffield United the other day, Chris Brunt labelled Darby as a bit of a
05:30hangover and probably a bit of a hangover and I think he was underselling that. I think Darby
05:33was a hangover, wasn't it? Especially as the first half in Darby was so bad. That was a real,
05:38not a Christmas Day hangover, a post-Carlos Corbijn hangover. Seven's a good return.
05:43All right, the first three came under the Spaniard, didn't it? And I remember making
05:47that prediction on the podcast, it was before Valencia had sat there, you know, their head
05:52coach and you kind of, obviously you get the bombshell then on the 23rd and then Christmas
05:57Eve, but yeah, you're right. I was thinking about that just before we started the video
06:00actually and totting up the points and it is a good return. I mean, obviously a point in,
06:04if I've been going drawing in Swansea the other day, Swansea have taken a real beating today,
06:08haven't they? Swansea lost four against Portsmouth, so I was told anyway, so that will
06:15sting them and they'll be looking to respond, won't they? Obviously, Luke Williams has been
06:20in the gossip columns, hasn't he? The last few days relating to the Albion job and look,
06:27he's well thought of, high performing before today, Albion rate for Swansea were nine,
06:32so they've had a tough day today, Swansea, but that won't be an easy game come the weekend,
06:37but if Albion go down there and get a point, that'll be what? Eight points from a possible
06:4115. Yeah, that's really good. And given what's gone on, it's a good return, isn't it? You know,
06:48I think that Albion can go there and win, Saturday, and it's ten points, you're laughing
06:52really from a baggage perspective, aren't you? And then there's two weeks with an FA Cup tie
06:58in the middle of it against Premier League opposition that, look, I want to say Albion
07:02winning the FA Cup, you do, everyone watching will, but it's not the be-all, end-all,
07:07is it? It's not a priority. Two free midweeks, two weeks to finalise interviews, whatever,
07:14on the head coach front, it's a good time for Albion to get through this period as unscathed
07:19as possible, with the most amount of points they can, as unscathed as possible fitness-wise,
07:25that's a big one from that post-match with Bronte there, isn't it? Again, we'll bring you all of
07:29that latest, but thankfully nothing too serious from today on the fitness front, a lot of walking
07:35wounded, a lot going on, but it's the fourth game of five in, what, 14 days, so it's crazy
07:41at the moment, and Bronte alluded to it there, so it's looking all right,
07:45more than all right, I think, like you say, it's a very handy return from the position they're in.
07:49Yeah, given the circumstances, successful Christmas period for Albion, which has been
07:53polished off today with a 3-1 win over Preston. Happy New Year, Baggies fans,
07:57and for all the rest of your reaction, you know where to go, head to expressingstar.com.