Match report from Brian (Scot No 2)

A cold and winters Easter Weekend saw ASB rise early for the trip north to Birmingham. After battling through blizzards for 2 hours the team assembled on the west side of the city in Oldbury. The scenes of graffiti and smashed glass that (un)welcomed us was proof indeed that is is grim north of Watford (that is until you reach the glorious land of Scotland of course).

More than happy to stay snuggled in the warmth of the changing room, the team finally embarked into the freezing wastes of Siberia, well the Midlands, to take on West Brom.

After a brisk warm up, which did nothing to warm anyone up, Juzza finally stopped gassing with their gaffer to come and tell the lads the team for the day. Sharkey already having lost the toss. We lined up with:

Naz in goal, a back four of Frangi, Orville, Dave Newman and Weeman, midfield of Slouch, James, Kev and Brian in the centre and Nick and Captain Sharkey up front.

The conditions set the tone for the game, and with ASB having the strong and blustery wind in the first half it started with the ball mostly being blown into West Brom's half, and Nick and Sharkey running their arses off to catch it. When we got the ball on the deck it was looking good, however with West Brom packing 3 the centre of midfield Kev and Brian were struggling to dictate like in previous weeks.

West Brom were not there to make up the numbers though, and were showing how dangerous they could be with a few breaks that troubled the back four. Orv - back from missing the last couple of games - was showing how invaluable he is, whilst Dave was tasked with marking their (umpteen goals) centre forward out of the game. The result was a tense stand off unaided by the snow and rain, as each team fought hard in midfield for some kind of dominance.

Meanwhile Bilbo Baggins the referee was doing his best to spoil the game. A few late tackles were allowed to go, from both sides, which as we all know raises tempers. This was to prove a factor as the game progressed. On a few occasions he allowed play to go on as West Brom were in possession, only to pull it back to the foul/freekick as an ASB player won the ball back. It was blatantly biased but as there's not much you can do we simply had to get on with it. To their credit the West Brom lads always sent the ball back to Naz at these "drop ball" moments.

One such moment of refereeing madness came as ASB broke with the ball in midfield, James picking up just inside our half and as he turned was caught by a elbow that you wouldn't say was accidental. After playing a sublime ball between the back four to Nick he vented his frustration at the ref (it was the standard response from ANY player in a game to such a tackle and lasted about four words), so rather than play the clear advantage, with Nick now clear with the keeper to beat, he blew the whistle awarding the freekick to West Brom on the grounds of dissent.

It was going to be one of those games.

About midway through the half Irish Dave came on at centre half for Dave Newman in a straight swap.

West Brom kept up their pressure as their midfield numbers began to show dominance, with several chances being either turned away or held by Naz who was commanding his box well. Some good marking and last ditch tackles kept the score at 0-0 at half time.

At half time Juzza made a couple more changes, Zack came on at Right back for Weeman, James came off with Nick dropping to Right Mid and Dave Newman back on to join Sharkey up front.

The second half kicked off in much the same vein as the first, with both teams canceling each other out, with neither set of forwards really troubling. Some of the tackles in the middle were beginning to get later and later and it was inevitable that tempers would flare at some point. West Brom's number 12 taking his studs down the back of Brian's leg which resulted in some handbags at five paces. The same player was to be responsible for Orville's ankle looking like it had been through a meat mincer a few minutes later. Both tackles resulting in zero response from the referee, who was proving to be right up there as one of the most awful ref's I have ever seen.

With Orv off Dave Newman was forced back to centre half, Nick returned to partner Sharkey up front, Zack pushed one place forward on the right and Weeman took up his place at right back. Thankfully both Dave's are big strong centre halves meaning the loss of Orville, who had been solid all game, was not felt too badly.

Brian and Kev continued to work hard in the centre to contain their big number 5, who's pace was proving hard to match - though given he had at least 10 years of youth over both ASB's central pairing they were doing well. However due to this effort they were unable to push forward much to support Nick and Sharkey when ASB were able to get the ball up the park and into the wind. Only once did ASB really trouble the West Brom defence, with Nick shooting wide from the edge of the box. Meanwhile at the other end of the park the wind was allowing West Brom to bear down on goal more often, with Naz turning a couple of speculative efforts wide, and watching a few other fly wide too.

West Brom were definitely beginning to edge the game in their favour, and a series of corners saw ASB defending tight to ensure the scoreline stayed blank at our end. Naz shouting loudly to command his box and his defense.

With the clock running down and the game seemingly heading for a 0-0 it was Bilbo Baggins to the rescue for West Brom. Another ball in behind our back four looked to be offside, and indeed linesman James seemed to think so raising his flag early. With the defense static calling for the decision Baggins let play go and West Brom's left midfielder bore down on Naz's goal, slotting away the ball from about 10 yards. ASB continued to ask if the ref was awarding the goal or the offside, as he ran over to the location of the offside holding his hand aloft, but alas he was awarding the goal, over ruling the Linesman's flag. 1-0 to West Brom.

With the wind well and truly knocked out of our sails, the heads dropped and the final seconds drifted away in despondency. 89 minutes of hard work ruined by a referee who was hell bent of giving the 3 points to his local team.

A huge thank you from Juzza afterwards, for everyone who made the trip north to the freezing midlands, was little consolation. West Brom were a good strong side (except for one high tackling muppet) who were there to play football for the most part in appalling conditions, and it was a great test for an ASB side struggling to find the form that had until a few weeks ago seen us unbeaten in 12 games. That record now lies in tatters after 3 losses and a draw in the last 4 games.