West Brom in seventh heaven...
But Pulis knows there is much work to be done
TONY PULIS will spend today considering a fascinating dilemma: how does a new manager convincingly rant and rave at a team which has just won a cup tie by scoring seven unanswered goals?
As one of the game’s renowned ranters, Pulis will presumably find a way and he will do so in the knowledge that his criticism will be amply deserved.
For more than 40 minutes of this extraordinary match, Albion were frequently outclassed by Gateshead’s neat, thoughtful passing game. Pulis, untypically clad in executive suit, spent a frustrating opening quarter of an hour in the stands and had then taken to the touchline to bawl at his new troops. Saido Berahino’s performance had matched that of his team in its listless lack of energy and concern.
Then, in the 42nd minute, Berahino scored a goal from nowhere. And suddenly, dramatically, the roof fell in on Gateshead. When Berahino knocked in his fourth goal — and Albion’s seventh — in the dying seconds, Pulis was obliging the Albion fans with gracious waves and heady optimism was in the air.
Naturally, the speculation which has surrounded the young striker’s future was intensified by his latest surge of goals, the more so as he had pointedly declined to celebrate any of them. Pulis handled the question with practised care. ‘Saido Berahino is a very talented boy,’ he said. ‘I look forward with him as a player for however long I am here.
‘There is always going to be transfer speculation and you can see why. He has great pace, great balance and scores goals. But when I came in here the chairman had not received any offer for him and we will try our damndest to try and improve him.
‘I hope he keeps reading the headlines if he scores four every week. Someone said he didn’t celebrate but it was lovely to see all the lads go over when we scored as that showed the unity we’ll need.’
For almost all of the first half, we could see great scope for improvement, but the clinical nature of that opening goal was a declaration of genuine talent. A free-kick from the left was whipped low and fierce by Chris Brunt. It was twice cleared off the line and the loose ball fell to Berahino.
The finish was cool and killingly accurate, just as the goal was undeserved. Berahino’s refusal to celebrate may well have been down to simple embarrassment.
What followed amounted to cruelty. Playing the single minute of added time, Berahino slid a short pass into the path of Victor Anichebe. For the first time in the afternoon, the striker reacted with something like alacrity, turning his marker, striking the shot early and scoring with some ease. Pulis headed for the dressing room and he was not preparing to distribute bouquets.
But the gods had turned on the Conference side and, within a minute of the second half, the match was effectively over. Once again Berahino was the instrument, moving to the fringe of the area and firing off a stunningly precise shot high into the Gateshead net. Once again his goal was marked with a stony stare and the hint of a shrug.
The hat-trick arrived in the 53rd minute, with Chris Baird making ground down the right and Berahino nonchalantly converting the cross. His uncelebrated hat-trick had been scored within nine minutes.
When the fifth goal rolled in a minute later, with Brunt outpacing a dishevelled defence, the Conference team yearned for closure. ‘Pulis, Pulis, give us a wave’, pleaded the Albion fans. He obliged, with the air of one who always knew the plot would work out like this.
Yet still things improved for the new man. James Morrison’s tap-in after 78 minutes simply confirmed Gateshead’s collapse. Then the merciless Berahino took his fourth to confirm the rout.
The Gateshead manager Gary Mills knew just how harshly the fates had treated his team but he reacted with dignity. ‘We knew we weren’t going to win the competition,’ he said. ‘But we wanted to give a good account of ourselves.’
He now redoubles his efforts to ascend from the Conference. Despite the size of the defeat, he should know that his side emerges with genuine credit.
As for Pulis, he smoothly stalled inquiries about Berahino’s apparent indifference to his goals and prepared himself for ‘a big transfer window’. One imagines that he also started to formulate the speech he will deliver in training tomorrow. For seven goals are all very well, but the real work is just beginning.