Wonderful cup run takes West Brom to Wembley
Tony Matthews looks at successful seasons for the Black Country’s football clubs Season 2007-08
Part Two
Albion finally went down 1-0 to Portsmouth in the semi-final in front of 83,584
WOLVES’ biggest win was 3-0 at home to Cardiff late in the season, while their heaviest defeats were all by 3-0, at Ipswich and Watford and at home to Crystal Palace.
Cambridge-born striker Sylvan Ebanks-blake top-scored with 12 goals (including 2 penalties) while goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey was the only everpresent.
Over at The Banks’s Stadium, Walsall’s season under manager Richard Money was also a mixed one. But they did put togther an excellent unbeaten run of 17 matches between late October and the end of January and eventually ended up with this record: played 46, won 16, drew 16, lost 14, goals for and against 52-46, points 64.
The Saddlers’ best win was 4-0 at home versus Huddersfield Town while their heavist defeat was 3-0 at home to Oldham early in the campaign. Tommy Mooney with 11 goals (3 penalties) was top-scorer, while Trinidad-born goalkeeper Clayton Ince was the only ever-present. The former Aston Villa forward Mooney actually scored the 200th and 201st goals of his career in Walsall’s 2-0 home win over Cheltenham in early November. In the FA Cup competition, West Bromwich Albion reached the semifinal stage after ousting Charlton, Peterborough United, Coventry City and Bristol Rovers (Ishmail Miller netted a hattrick in a 5-1 win) but then went down 1-0 to Portsmouth in front of a Wembley crowd of 83,584. Wolves knocked out Cambridge United and Watford in rounds 3 and 4 before losing 2-0 at Cardiff, while Walsall departed in round three, beaten by Millwall in a replay, having knocked out Shrewsbury Town and Northampton in earlier rounds.
Onto the Carling-sponsored League Cup – and Albion took out Bournemouth and Peterborough in rounds 1 and 2 before falling to Cardiff City; Wolves ko’d Bradford City but were then dumped out by lowly Morecambe 3-1 at Molineux in round 2. Morecambe, in fact, had played Canvey Island two years ealrier in a Conferenmce game in front of 480 spectators.
Walsall, meanwhile, were beaten by Swansea City in the first round. The saddlers also entered the Johnstone Paints Trophy but didn’t last long, losing to Bournemouth in the first round.
Checking around the clubs … Albion fielded 13 players from 12 overseas countries during 2007-08 including Albrechtson (Denmark), Bednar (Czech Republic), Gera (Hungary), Tinhino (Mozambique), Hoefkens (Belgium), Pele (Portugal), Kim (South Korea) and Cesar and Koren (Slovenia).
Manager Tony Mowbray used no less than 126 substitutes in 46 League games and Albion scored 11 goals in three games against Coventry (six in two League games and five in an FA Cup-tie).
Former Wolves goalkeeper Mark Kendall sadly died from a heart attack in May 2008, aged just 49.
And over at Walsall, the Saddlers reached half-time on no less than 15 occasions trailing by one goal, and manager Money was replaced just before the end of the season by