'Early festive boost': Jonny Drury & Lewis Cox analyse West Brom's win over Bristol City

Express & Star

Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox give their take on Albion's win over Bristol City. Mikey Johnston's first half header was followed by a stunning second from the summer signing, to make it back to back wins at The Hawthorns. The win moves Albion up towards the play-offs heading into a busy festive period.

Transcript

00:00Baggies fans welcome to Expresstown.com, welcome to the Hawthorns, well to a very cold Hawthorns,

00:12but the fans warmed up a bit by a pretty comfortable display from Albion, a 2-0 win here against

00:19Bristol City. Magic Mikey Johnson is back, two superb goals ahead and a trademark goal,

00:25one that was a bit of a throwback to last season. Albion have made it back-to-back wins on the

00:29cash bob, the top six once again. Coxey a very very nice early Christmas present. Yeah,

00:35the second header of Mikey Johnson's career he's just told me. We did wonder didn't we,

00:40when he headed it like a player who doesn't like to see it wheeling away. I was surprised to see him

00:44wheeling away, yeah he's not the type to hit the post. His first header was probably under 14s or

00:50something. No I've actually just been down into the tunnel to chat to him which is always nice,

00:55he was in good spirits. I mean we'll get on to some other positives but if Mikey Johnson can

01:01find a bit of rhythm and momentum and you know be effective in the final third and on goal,

01:07that's a massive boost from today isn't it and obviously he's the match-winning hero today and

01:11it is a good early Christmas present. Heading to Derby on Boxing Day which we probably don't

01:17have the time to get into it, I know we're podcasting tomorrow but Carlos Orban is not

01:21happy about Derby playing Friday night, Albion playing Sunday and the teams facing each other

01:27on Boxing Day but a good win, a 2-0 by half time was maybe a bit flattering on Albion,

01:33I think it was a scoreline they'd very much take because until the opening goal,

01:37that header 10 minutes before the break, there wasn't a lot in that game, I didn't really see

01:40the opener come in but to be fair to Albion in the second half, despite no further goals,

01:44I thought they controlled the game entirely, were well on top. There should have been a lot

01:48more. Yeah, Bristol City were bad, let's have it right and the fact Albion didn't go score a third

01:53and fourth there really is probably symptomatic of their season, they don't, being a bit critical

01:58here, but they don't score enough and the top three, top four sides would have put them to

02:02bed by about five today, they were dire really, despite being a mid-table side but a good win

02:07for Albion, a really good win and a lot more positives to come in terms of Swift, in terms

02:10of Deangar and we could probably go on. Yeah, we'll tackle some of those bits tomorrow and

02:14tackle the scheduling because Carlos Corbijn is not happy but we'll go into that in depth on the

02:20baggage broadcast tomorrow but just a bit more on Johnston because he hasn't really grabbed any

02:23headlines since he's come back, he's kind of looked a bit, you know, like the weight of the

02:26world on his shoulders, you know, probably been hit by the form of Grant, looked a bit lacking a

02:31bit of confidence but today he was sort of firing and, you know, I've just written this in a piece,

02:35when Johnston plays well, kind of Albion play well, I can't think of a time where Albion have

02:40lost a game where Johnston has played well, you know, if he is firing, if he is firing,

02:46Albion are such a better team, you know, if he can sustain this and put a run of form together,

02:53that's a, it's gonna have a, for me that has a big say in whether Albion get the top six or not.

02:57Yeah, yeah, I think I said it on the podcast before, Albion need, and it's partly because

03:03of the price tag, you know, he's a big, he was the marquee buy, they need him to work really,

03:09you know, him being on the bench, you know, rotated in and out, you know, I get rotation,

03:14but yeah, it took him a while, didn't it, it took him to get Grant off the wing, up top for him to

03:19work and I agree, I said to him down there, I remember Hull away, you know, when Albion won,

03:25they were on a big old winless run, weren't they, before the international break, went up and won

03:30at Hull, I remember Johnston playing well, two weeks ago today here against Sheffield United,

03:35Johnston played really well and again today, so you're right, you're looking at positive results

03:39there and him affecting it, little criticism until today was that there was still a zero next to his

03:45goals and assists, obviously he's put that right, by the way, Fellows on the other side has chucked

03:49up his eighth assist of the season today, but Johnston's given an interesting quote or two to

03:55us down there about that, about the fact he'd been on a little barren run of creating, of scoring,

04:01you can read that soon, but in a nutshell he sort of said, look, a bit more to the game than goals

04:09and assists and to a point he's right, isn't he, he's right, it's the one thing that fans maybe don't

04:15see, the goals that look for the spark of performances, the touches like in the second

04:18half, yeah, but as an attacker, as an expensive attacker, he'll know that, you know, that's

04:23obviously really important and Corbijn himself did actually say, look, it's important he's getting on

04:27the end of things like that and he did say he'd been practising getting in those areas on the end

04:32of Fellows' cross and vice versa, so that's going to be important, but yeah, I mean, perhaps more

04:39competition for those places coming up because for the first time in a long old time Grady

04:42de Angana came on today and looked right, didn't he, after however long an injured affair on time

04:47and John Swift starting his first game in quite a while and had a good game, didn't he, and for such a

04:56long time question marks next to the name of someone like Swift and, you know, when are we

05:00going to see Grady again and all of a sudden after today you're left feeling, well, you know, just at

05:05the start of five games in 14 days, two more attackers have kind of arrived, three if you

05:11include Johnson and his goals, so there's quite a few positive plus points to take from today and I

05:17think very timely and other than being irritated about the scheduling as he very clearly was,

05:23Carlos Corbijn will be enjoying a merry Christmas, I reckon, after that.

05:27He certainly will be, possibly an Australia this evening.

05:31Oh no, you won't find him in an alcoholic, is he?

05:35Yeah, he's far too healthy for any of that.

05:37Right, shall we talk about the rest tomorrow because I'm freezing?

05:39Yeah, yeah, it is cold.

05:40Baggies fans, have a very merry Christmas, well, you'll hear us tomorrow on the Baggies broadcast,

05:47but for the final time on one of our videos, before Christmas, have a good Christmas.

05:51Boink, boink, yeah, boink, boink, all the lights went out on us, eh?

05:53Very happy, at least, I'll be dad, but back-to-back wins, Albion are on the up again,

05:59and yeah, all things are quite positive, final score, 2-0 to the Baggies.

06:03Well, you know where to go for the rest of your reaction, expressandstart.com.

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