West Brom 3, Sheffield United 1: Full Time Report

Jan 30 2010

From then on it was all Albion and Bednar somehow side-footed wide soon after with a second goal at his mercy.

But he made no mistake just after the half-hour by converting a perfect example of counter-attacking football, although United boss Kevin Blackwell will have been fuming with the ease in which his defence were cut apart.

A visiting corner broke down and Albion right-back Gonzalo Jara switched the play to Bednar on the halfway line, he interchanged passes with Thomas and before Blades keeper Mark Bunn could react the ball was nestling in his net.

Albion were then controversially denied two more obvious handball decisions than the one that was given, before Bednar wasted a glorious chance to make it 3-0 when he latched onto Stephen Quinn's short backpass but could only find the side netting.

Such is the nature of West Brom's inconsistency this season that the third goal was always going to prove crucial.

And it was they who shot themselves in the foot just minutes after the restart when Youssouf Mulumbu hacked down Quinn in the area and Henderson smashed home the resulting penalty for his 11th league goal of the season.

But it took the Baggies just 53 seconds to hit back.

Dorrans was again the provider, launching a long ball upfield towards Thomas who jinked his way into the area before seeing his goalbound effort deflected past the helpless Bunn.

Albion showed plenty of composure from then onwards and it was they who could have added to the scoreline.

Jonas Olsson was fortunate to get away with a foul on substitute, and former Wolves man, Henri Camara late on. But the visiting fans were left travelling back up the M1 wondering what might have been had it not been for Albion's controversial opener.