Lewis Cox gives his verdict on Albion's defeat against Coventry.
Albion were beaten 2-0 against the Sky Blues, leaving them six points adrift of the play-off spots with three games remaining.
Albion were beaten 2-0 against the Sky Blues, leaving them six points adrift of the play-off spots with three games remaining.
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00:00Well, it was a desperately disappointing Good Friday for Albion here at Coventry Tissie's CBS Arena.
00:08The baggies, as I'm sure you know by now, have been beaten 2-0 by Frank Lampard's host.
00:13And 2-0 did not flatter the Sky Blues.
00:17West Brom were comfortably and deserved second best here today.
00:22In all honesty, one of the poorest, I felt personally, performances of the season.
00:26Obviously, that covers two permanent head coaches in an interim period.
00:31Certainly one of the most damaging if you think of.
00:33There were sort of faint playoff hopes, I think, before today in that Albion come here and win.
00:40Then it's back in their hands.
00:42They would have leapt above Coventry into the top six on the superior goal difference
00:47with three pretty decent games left to play this season.
00:51But straight from the get-go, almost.
00:53I mean, it took six minutes. It was a six-minute, sorry, when Jack Rodoni, one of the better players on the pitch in Coventry,
01:00swarmed all over Albion throughout, to be honest.
01:02But Rodoni, the midfielder, crashed in a low finish after Albion failed.
01:06I think Alex Moet, the midfielder, failed to clear a low cross.
01:09And Coventry was a better side comfortably in that first period.
01:13Albion, particularly below par, one of the poorest they've played under Tony Mowbrin.
01:17He's acknowledged that, to be honest.
01:19But going back, really, to August, it was some of the worst they've served up.
01:24And, you know, you thought, what can they improve?
01:26What's the second half got to offer?
01:28And Mowbrin made big changes, actually.
01:29He introduced John Swift and Grady Dean-Garner at halftime,
01:33two players he hoped would be able to give his side more control of the ball against Coventry,
01:36who were, as I say, much the better side.
01:39But within three minutes of the second period, John Swift received the ball.
01:44I think Albion had tried to clear it in his own box.
01:47And his first touch badly let him down.
01:49Swift, it bounced off him and Grimes, the Coventry midfielder, kept his core, kept his composure.
01:54It's a slider finish past Griffiths into the corner for 2-0, 48 minutes.
01:57And that was as good as done, really.
01:59It was certainly as good as done a few minutes later,
02:02when Albion left back Callum Stiles saw red for a second bookable offence.
02:06I think he was pulling at a Coventry winger on the far side, was booked in the first half.
02:11So, down to 10 men just after conceding that second goal was really damaging.
02:15And Albion failed to recover, really.
02:16To be honest, Coventry could have scored more.
02:18There was a period of 10 or 15 minutes either side of the hour,
02:21I think, where Lampard's side were almost camped in, penned into Albion's own third.
02:26And they could have added to their two-goal victory, really.
02:29A couple of decent blocks from Albion, who clung on to the two-goal deficit.
02:32And Coventry almost declared, really, I think, at two.
02:37They were in second or third gear for the final.
02:39Much of the final half an hour, when Albion had a bit more to show.
02:42But I don't think Tony Moble's side deserved anything, even a goal, really, from today's efforts.
02:48And the head coach has said after there that he agreed with that.
02:52He said he thought his side were well below the levels they've set for most.
02:55But now, just before I get on to more of that, there's clearly a lot of unhappiness and frustration.
03:01And certainly in that away end today, most, to be honest, had left before full-time, which was no surprise.
03:06It was the big occasion again, wasn't it?
03:08It really was.
03:09It came to the crux.
03:11We're well in the running, as we know.
03:12And this is the one where Albion can win.
03:14It can go in their hands.
03:15Can they take it by the scuff of the net?
03:17Can they end this horrific away form?
03:20There's now one winning 20, by the way.
03:22Can they put an end to this horrific run where they haven't won back-to-back games since September?
03:27It was a sold-out crowd there today.
03:29The biggest league attendance in this stadium ever.
03:3231,000, I think it was.
03:33Sold out 3,000 away end.
03:36They just wilted, to be honest.
03:37They just didn't show up.
03:41And what does that say on the biggest occasion?
03:44The form's not been great for a while, has it?
03:46It's one winning six now, I think.
03:48Sorry, one winning seven.
03:50The Albion were winning this in five before the victory over Watford last week.
03:53And it's just come at the worst possible time, hasn't it?
03:55To be honest.
03:56And what a blow.
03:58Because for much of the campaign, despite the inconsistency away, despite the struggle for regular wins,
04:05Albion had stayed fifth, stayed sixth for most of the season.
04:08And obviously in the last month or so, I think since the return of the international break in early April.
04:13It's rather unfolded pretty, pretty disappointingly.
04:17And this will be one that I think supporters, people will remember as the day it really sort of unraveled for the season.
04:24As I say, six-point gap to the top six now.
04:27Six-point deficit with just nine left to play for.
04:30Yes, Albion have attractive final three games.
04:33Sorry for the background noise, by the way.
04:35But they played three of the bottom four, starting with Derby and the Hawthorns on Saturday.
04:40Sorry, not Saturday, on Monday, Easter Monday.
04:43Now you look at that and think, and Tony Mowbray said it to us in there, you know,
04:45I expect us to win the last three games.
04:47But, you know, can they go and win three consecutive games?
04:50Even against poor opposition, you really struggle to make a case for them now at this late stage of the season.
04:55You do.
04:56Tony Mowbray, as I said, admitted to the low levels of performance.
04:59He said he could give no defence of it today.
05:03Suggested a lack of intensity, actually, in his size performance.
05:06And, actually, Coventry had two days less than Albion to prepare for this.
05:10So, he wouldn't expand on that.
05:12He said he'd had words in the dressing room about it, but he wouldn't tell us, you know,
05:14what was the reason for that intensity struggle.
05:17There's so many, if not all of them, really, of Albion's players.
05:20Just didn't turn up.
05:21They underperformed.
05:22Really, it felt like they blew a huge chance on the big stage.
05:26They'd been offered, you know, they'd been offered for them to take it back into their own hands.
05:30But, yeah, fans left bitterly, bitterly frustrated with the level of that performance today.
05:36The manner of it, for me, they just didn't look on it from the word go, really, from the first minute.
05:43And got what they deserved, unfortunately.
05:46Even if they managed to win the final three games, would it be enough?
05:49I'm not sure.
05:49But the smart money certainly isn't on them doing that, the way they've been unable to put results together all season.
05:55And I think, like I said, I think this will be one that people remember about this squad, this season, this team.
06:02We're getting towards the summer of another expected rebuild, we think, with players being let go.
06:06You know, what a disastrous second-half Swift had coming on with that terrible error.
06:10And Dean Garner came on as well.
06:11The striking changes didn't come till the end of the game.
06:14And Frank Lampard's vibrant side were well worth the victory.
06:19Much in the ascendancy throughout.
06:20Swarmed all over the visitors' side.
06:21And Lampard talked about just how far he felt his team had come since losing 2-0 at the Hawthorns in December, shortly after his appointment.
06:28So that said a lot, I think, from the Sky Blues boss.
06:33I'll sign off now.
06:34Deeply disappointing day here.
06:37There'll be all the, let's say, reaction, match report, player ratings, some stuff from Lampard and Mowbray on our website.
06:44And we'll have all the coverage on Monday against Derby on expressionistar.com.