Poor Game, Good Result

WBA 1 - Manchester United 3
Scorers
WBA: Long (36)
Manchester United: Rooney (12), Reid (og 81)


Team: De Gea, Vidic (Evans 55), Rio (Jones 76), Smalling, Fabio, Anderson, Cleverley, Nani, Young, Welbeck (Berbatov 65), Rooney

Barring the first 20 or so minutes, this was a pretty poorly played game from our standpoint. De Gea suffered a second howler in successive games but was ultimately rescued again late.

We came out blasting out of the gates when the game started and promptly got a delightful Rooney goal on the 12th minute. The goal was well worked out between Rooney and Young. The chances were there but none were on target as our ascendancy slowly faded under the workman-like pressure from West Brom.

De Gea did well to parry a powerful shot by Scharner when he broke thru the defence. However minutes later, our new no.1 was once again found lacking when Shane Long's weak shot from the corner squirmed under his arms, much like how Dzeko's did a week earlier.It brought West Brom level and gave them the confidence to take us on.

We could hardly string a series of passes in the second half. And as the game progressed on, West Brom were the team that looked the likelier winners. They looked especially dangerous on set-pieces and with the team's confidence on De Gea at a low, it just made it more nerve-wrecking to watch. Both Vidic and Rio also left the field with injuries.

In the end, it was abit of magic by Young who broke the deadlock. He wiggled past his man on the left flank and whipped in a cross that met with a double deflection and into the net. Somehow, despite not looking anywhere near our best, we managed to pull one out against a resloute team.

With all our so-called contenders drawing in the opening weekend, this has to be a huge result, even at this early stage of the season. More importantly, we've navigated a difficult away fixture with all 3 points. If West Brom plays the way the played today, I doubt many of the pretenders will have much to cheer about when they leave the Hawthorns.