A chilly night at The Hawthorns saw West Bromwich Albion continue their campaign at the top of the Championship table to try to catch runaway leaders Newcastle, with in-form Nottingham Forrest their opponents. A mere two points separated these two sides before the start of play and while West Brom began the game as favorites it wasn’t going to be an easy game against Billy Davies’ boys.
Forrest striker Robert Earnshaw was an early casualty on this frosty night, pulling up with a hamstring problem in the warm-up and worrying the Away fans who had braced the cold and treacherous conditions to travel here tonight. They were soon rewarded with some slick play though, as Nottingham dominated the game early on before Dexter Blackstock opened the scoring in the 18th minute, latching onto the end of a corner and drilling the ball into the back of the net from ten yards.
Forrest kept their heads up after the goal and remained in control with both wingers seeing plenty of the ball, they kept possession well in midfield and tried to release lone-striker Blackstock who was spearheading a 4-5-1 formation. West Brom struggled to get into the game in the first half and seemed almost relieved to hear the half-time whistle; heading back to the dressing room 0-1 down and in need of encouragement.
West Brom rang the changes in the second half with striker Roman Bednar coming off the bench for lackluster Luke Moore and joining in a team huddle as the home side hoped to boost morale and get themselves back in the game.
Seven minutes later, Majewski latched onto a cross from Gunter and sunk the hearts of the Hawthorns faithful when his left footed volley cracked off the underside of the bar and nestled into the net. Two minutes later Forrest extended their lead to three when some slick one-touch passing ended with Cohen sliding the ball into the net from 20 yards.
With twenty-five minutes to go, some great vision from Dorrans saw him picking out Roman Bednar who found himself one-on-one with the Forrest ‘keeper Lee Camp, the striker cooly slotted the ball home to give the home fans something to cheer about. With West Brom hoping to get something out of the game, things began to heat up, scuffles erupted and both Goalkeepers were forced into action as the game opened up.
West Brom took the game by the scruff of the neck in the final fifteen minutes as they pushed for a comeback but it looked beyond them. Substitute Ishmael Miller looked lively late on as he forced a fantastic save from Lee Camp but The Baggies just couldn’t do enough and in the end the three points went the way of Nottingham Forrest who take West Brom’s second spot and lay within five points of leaders Newcastle United.
