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Sheffield Wednesday 0 West Bromwich Albion 4: Old boy Brunt piles on misery for Wednesday
FORMER Owl Chris Brunt refused to celebrate his goal at Hillsborough out of respect to Sheffield Wednesday chief Brian Laws.
Whether Owls captain Tommy Spurr feels the same way towards his manager is another matter.
The left-back was humiliatingly hauled off immediately after the Baggies had gone 3-0 ahead in the 38th minute and it will be a test of character for Spurr to respond to such critical treatment by his manager.
Brunt's 85th-minute strike was academic, Wednesday had hoisted the white flag long before the half-time whistle, but the Baggies right winger took time to explain why he only gave muted applause to the visiting fans behind the goal.
Brunt joined the Baggies for 3m in August, 2007 after being accused of "excessive wage demands" when contract talks with the Owls broke down.
It was a difficult time for Brunt, who had made over 100 appearances for the Owls since joining from Middlesbrough three years earlier, and he said: "I owe Sheffield Wednesday a lot in terms of my career. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't have got the chance to move to West Brom and play in the Premier League like I did last season.
"I owe a massive amount to Sheffield Wednesday and Brian Laws and Russ (assistant Wilcox) in particular. They were great for me even when I was getting a bit of stick from other people around the club they both stuck by me and made life easier for me. I owe them a lot."
Laws was in no mood to stick by anyone during this abject performance and third successive home defeat on Saturday but Belfast-born Brunt tried to provide some excuse.
"People will be saying Wednesday played badly but I think they played badly due to the way we defended and also pressed them. We hit them on the break and we are incisive on the counter-attack.
"We can be so effective on the break. We couldn't do that last season because we didn't have the team to soak up pressure and hit teams like that. It's obviously a different league now, but it seems to be working pretty well for the minute."
It certainly is and the Baggies were a class apart from the Owls as they stayed within two points of leaders Newcastle, another team who suffered the drop last time.
The way things are going, the Owls could be locked in a relegation battle of their own after going six games without a win.
They were simply dreadful and any of the 10 outfield players could easily have been subbed – Laws playing his three cards within 54 minutes.
Fortunately, they will not play a team as slick as West Bromwich every week but there is a lot of damage to be repaired before fellow strugglers Reading visit Hillsborough on Saturday.
Laws had made just one change to the side which drew 0-0 at Ipswich, preferring Leon Clarke up front to Luke Varney, loan signings Tom Soares and Warren Feeney given places on the bench.
There was an early sign of things to come when Lee Grant produced fine saves from Luke Moore and Brunt before the dangerous Jerome Thomas incurred the wrath of the crowd as he went down too easily in the area as grant raced out to intercept a through ball.
It was midway through the first half before the Baggies breached a dishevelled Owls defence, Simon Cox scuffing the ball home from the edge of the six-yard area after being left unmarked at a corner.
The Baggies speed on the counter was highlighted by their second strike seven minutes later, right-back Frank Simek again out of position as goalkeeper Scott Carson sent the ball out wide for Thomas and Brunt to combine to set up a tap-in for Cox after centre-back Lewis Buxton fell over attempting to clear the drilled cross.
Whenever the visitors upped the tempo, Wednesday were left at the lights and West Brom should have had a penalty when Spurr, tracking across, tripped Cox but Eddie Ilderton played advantage as the ball ran to Thomas, who smashed a shot against the post.
The relief was short-lived as two minutes later it was game over, quite literally for Spurr, as Thomas took a return pass into the area from Cox which isolated Simek and curled the ball beyond Grant into the far corner.
Mark Beevers was brought on with Buxton moving to left-back and Laws also gave a debut at the start of the second half to Stoke midfield loanee Soares in place of Jermaine Johnson, who was left to rue pre-match comments that: "This could be a really good, open game. West Brom won't come here looking to stop us playing by playing a pressing game because they will be playing their own football."
Laws also replaced Marcus Tudgay with Varney but it made little to no difference as West Bromwich simply toyed with their hosts, finally capitalising again when Chris Wood curled the ball across for an unmarked Brunt to drill home the fourth.
Sheffield Wednesday: Grant, Simek, Hinds, Buxton, Spurr (Beevers 38); Gray, Potter, O'Connor, Johnson (Soares 46); Clarke, Tudgay (Varney 54). Unused substitutes: O'Donnell, McAllister, Esajas, Feeney.
West Bromwich Albion: Carson, Zulverloon, Meite, Olsson, Cech; Brunt, Jara, Dorrans, Thomas (Mulumbu 67); Moore (Wood 76), Cox (Thorne 88). Unused substitutes: Kiely, Bednar, Reid, Martis.
Referee: E Ilderton (Tyne and Wear).
MATCH FACTS
Hero: Lee Grant
The goalkeeper was the only Sheffield Wednesday player exonerated by manager Brian Laws and could hardly be faulted for any of the goals, keeping the score down with a couple of top quality saves.
Villain: Chris Brunt
The former Owl was booed whenever in possession during the first half but must have won over some of the home fans by the way he refused to celebrate his sixth goal of the season.
Key moment
38th minute: Jerome Thomas takes a return pass from Simon Cox and bends home the third to make it game over.
Ref watch
Eddie Ilderton: Sound game even though Owls fans felt Jerome Thomas should have been booked for taking a dive.
Verdict
On this performance, Sheffield Wednesday can forget any notion of a promotion bid and start concentrating on survival instead.
Next game
Sheffield Wednesday v Reading, Championship, Saturday, 3.00pm.
Quote of the day
Christmas shopping, you should have gone Christmas shopping.
– The Baggies fan taunt Wednesdayites after going 3-0 ahead.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 8 C to 21 C
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