Posts Tagged ‘scunthorpe’

Dorrans Centre Of Transfer Rumours

The Sunday Mirror are claiming that Graham Dorrans will be leaving the Hawthorns this summer. Both North East teams Newcastle United and Sunderland are supposedly lining up summer offers for the young Albion Star.

They are not the only teams in the running either if the rumour mill is to be believed. Manchester City scouts were spotted at the Hawthorns last home game against Scunthorpe and seemingly keeping tabs too. Another team that will no doubt renew their interest is ex Albion chief, Tony Mowbrays Celtic, who already made enquiries in the summer. Mowbray was the architect of Dorrans move to the Hawthorns in the beginning. This saw the Albion adding an extra 12 months to the players contract which was already for 4 years with a years option, showing how keen the club are to hold on to one of their most talented players.

It is also suggested that local rivals Villa and Birmingham are also looking to try their luck at recruiting the player, who cost as little as £100,000.

The very fact that the Albion extended the contract added to the fact that the Premiership looms on the horizon would lend the most intelligent to believe that the Albion will, be unwilling to let the player go without a struggle. Although as is the norm for the Hawthorns, money talks and the right offer could trigger a departure.

Albion go top after 2 nil win

A Roman Bednar opener on 13 minutes and a Gianni Zuiverloon goal late on was enough to take the Albion to the top of the table after Derby beat Newcastle emphatically and Coventry just edged out Forest in the East – West Midlands Derby.

Scunthorpe ended up with ten men, however, they should have been playing with just 9 when Dorran’s was brought down by the last man.

The game was a scrappy affair for most of the 90 minutes and Scunthorpe could have easily got back in to it on many occasions.

A sour note on this great night was the sight of Robert Koren blanking Di Matteo when he offered his hand as Koren was subbed.

Nouble Starts and there are 3 more changes tonight

Fresh kid on the block, short term loan signing Frank Nouble is given his Albion debut as Roberto Di Matteo makes a total of 4 team changes tonight. Obviously Jerome Thomas was out, but the other three are chosen.

The West Ham forward Nouble replaces the suspended Jerome Thomas on the left wing as we suggested earlier today, however, Slory still gets no better than the bench.

Gonzalo Jara, Jonas Olsson and Robert Koren are all recalled after being rested at Plymouth, the benched three who they replace are Gianni Zuiverloon, Abdoulaye Meite and Simon Cox.

ALBION (4-5-1): Carson; Jara, Tamas, Olsson, Mattock; Brunt, Koren, Mulumbu, Dorrans, Nouble; Bednar. Subs: Kiely (gk), Cox, Moore, Meite, Zuiverloon, Thorne, Slory.

SCUNTHORPE (4-4-2): Murphy; Byrne, Mirfin, Jones, Sparrow; Togwell, O’Connor, Moloney, McDermott; Wright, Hooper. Subs not used: Lillis (gk), McCann, Hayes, Forte, Woolford, Morris, Raynes.

REFEREE: K Wright (Cambridgeshire).

West Brom Scunthorpe Preview

West Brom will be aiming to keep up the pressure on Newcastle the Championship leaders and fight of Notts Forest who are hot on their tails for the 2nd auto promotion spot to the Premiership.

The Iron come to the Hawthorns at a time when the Albion have found their form both at home and away at long last. Scunthorpe will still be smarting from the late Crystal Palace winner on Saturday, after making a break from the risky bottom of the table with 2 wins before that game. Nigel Adkins this morning confirmed that he will be without Marcus Williams and Garry Thompson for tonights game at the Hawthorns.

Left-back Williams is banned for 1 game after the sending off at Palace on Saturday, when he committed a professional foul on Kieron Djilali. Williams has a hamstring injury and will not be available for a few weeks.

West Brom will probably give fresh in the door loan signee Frank Nouble his debut in place of the 4 match banned Jerome Thomas. His arrival is designed to combat the loss of Ishmael Miller, however, he is equally capable of playing an attacking midfield position or as a winger on either side too. Andy Slory is also competing for his first start on the wing too, so it could be a toss up between the ex Feyenoord player and the ex West Ham player. It is doubtful that both will get a starting place, however, very likely that one will be on the bench and one on the pitch at the start.

Marek Cech is ruled out once again with the hamstring injury that will see him miss at least another week and a half. Jonas Olsson, Gonzalo Jara and Robert Koren will all be pressing for a recall and whilst missing at Plymouth will be in contention, as Di Matteo will likely ring changes due to the stack up of games this month.

The ever present Roman Bednar may well be a casualty tonight down to the same issue of fitness levels befa;
lling the whole team and the club have stressed how they do not want to burn out 22 year old Graham Dorran’s too.

Giles Barnes and James Morrison are both long term injury concerns and unlikely to be available until April at the earliest.

Tonight’s betting news is as you would expect favouring the Baggies and the only way to make a killing will be to choose a scorer or even a scorer and Albion win.

A Roman Bednar first goal in a 3 to nil win see’s a return of £280 for a tenner. You can get any tenner bet matched with a free tenner bet if you sign up with Sky Bet through West Brom Blog, meaning that your £10 would return £560 instead of £280, what better time than to take your free tenner bet with Sky Bet than today.

Sky are offering 2/5 for an Albion win, 10/3 on a draw and 15/2 on an unlikely Scunthorpe victory.

Eager Nouble may start tonight against the Iron

Frank Nouble has today spoken about his hope for the future and how he thinks he could help out tonight. Although a striker he has confirmed himself as a potential replacement for the suspended Jerome Thomas against Scunthorpe.

He said: “I just want to play in an attacking role, be it left wing, right wing or up front, I am here to gain some experience and help the team.”

The 18-year-old finalised his initial 28 day loan from West Ham earlier today and in time to face Scunthorpe at the Hawthorns tonight.

Continuing, Nouble said:

“I am very excited. I watch some of the games on TV and some of the teams like West Brom are big teams, so I want to see how I do at this level.

“I made my debut at 17 recently. I have just turned 18 and I want to get as much experience as I can in any league, be it the Championship or Premier League.”

The youngster’s arrival from Upton Park gives Roberto Di Matteo extra options in the quest for a replacement for Thomas, who begins his four match ban tonight.

Nouble agreed that Di Matteo’s friendship with West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola played a big part in securing the move.

He said: “Gianfranco Zola and the manager here are close friends, so it was easy for them to talk about me. I think Roberto Di Matteo definitely listened to what he said and I think he is happy I have come here.

“The manager here has Chelsea links and was a terrific player when at Chelsea with Gianfranco Zola.”

Albion first team coach Michael Appleton has also spoken about Nouble: “Frank is really strong and aggressive and he will give us an outlet sometimes when we need that, especially when teams are trying to frustrate us.

“He is versatile and can play in different positions, which is good for us. There may be times when we want to use him in the centre but he has played a lot of football lately in wider areas so I think we’ll look to use him in both areas of the pitch as and when we need to.”

So, with Thomas out and Nouble fresh whilst other players are suffering from the rigours of 4 games in 10 days, added to the fact that he cannot play Saturday at Reading due to being cup tied, it is very likely that he will start tonight.

Albion really do need to make changes quite often at the moment anyway, as by next Tuesday at 10 pm they will have played 5 games in 13 days, a ridiculous amount in such a short period.

Kids for a quid for Scunthorpe’s visit to the Hawthorns

When Scunthorpe make the trip down to the Hawthorns next week on the 9th of February Albion fans will be able to watch the game at a reduced price.

WBA FC have reduced ticket prices for all and are offering the famous “Kids for a quid” yet again.

In all parts of the ground other than the West stand, tickets will be just £15 for adults, £10 for seniors, students and under eighteens, with kids under sixteen getting in for a quid.

The West stand will be the usual £28 and tickets are now on general sale.

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