Well that’s that for this particular minute-by-minute. We’ll do it all again on Friday night. I’ll leave you with Ben Fisher’s match report from The Hawthorns, which has just dropped, hot off the press. Bye!
Here’s a good question and one we’re no closer to discovering the answer to after 180 minutes of tedium via the Championship’s third, fourth, fifth and sixth best sides …
Who makes it to the Championship play-off final? 💭 pic.twitter.com/yFxjAhLgjs
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) May 12, 2024
“Neither team showed enough killer instinct to take it on … disappointing for us,” says the ever-engaging Deeney in the Sky studio. Troy, you’re not wrong. Let’s hope the second legs provide a little more entertainment. The ball is guaranteed to go in the net at some stage.
If the playoff semi-final drama dullness hasn’t captured you this afternoon, you can catch the final stages of the Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley. Manchester United are CRUISING to victory.
FT: West Brom 0-0 Southampton
It’s all over, as both Championship playoff semi-final first legs finish goalless. A cagey affair, really, but both teams have given themselves a chance for the second leg on the south coast on Friday.
West Brom might feel more disappointed. They started the game with great intent and forced a couple of superb stops from Alex McCarthy, but the draw probably favours Saints given they will have home advantage.
Updated
94 mins: Bednarek rose highest to head away the corner, under severe pressure from several West Brom players. Saints aren’t completely safe yet, they’re on the back foot as this game approaches its resolution.
Oooh and there are appeals for a West Brom penalty as Diangana goes down after speeding beyond Fraser. No penalty is the decision – a correct one.
93 mins: I’d go as far as suggesting that West Brom need a goal here. They’ve got a corner.
92 mins: Nothing has happened in added time, yet. Nothing.
90 mins: Adam Reach is going to be West Brom’s final sub. Something something, can they Reach the playoffs, etc etc. Townsend is the man plodding off.
Six minutes of added time.
88 mins: West Brom’s subs are definitely making a difference. The energy of Wallace and Swift in wide areas is worrying the Saints’ defenders, but still the final ball is lacking.
86 mins: Are these sides content with a 0-0, making it a straight shootout at St Mary’s? You’d think that scenario benefits Southampton, so maybe West Brom should be pushing harder in these final stages.
84 mins: Never change, Southampton. This game is nearly 85 minutes old and still they insist on playing out from the back, despite being faced with a fresh and fierce West Brom forward press. The hosts win it back, amid a surge of sound from the stands.
82 mins: I’m baffled as to why Corberan has left it so late to make these changes. Surely an early look at the bench could have offered them more impetus? Answers on a postcard, please.
81 mins: Four changes at once for West Brom. Everyone looks shattered.
Ajayi, Swift, M’Vila and Wallace are all coming on.
Yokuslu, Thomas-Asante, Johnston and Fellows all trudge off for a well-earned sit-down in the shade.
78 mins: Cramp is setting in among the West Brom players, yet they still haven’t made a change.
Diangana then spurns a golden opportunity to open the scoring for the hosts! He was played in by Fellows but hit it straight at McCarthy … at the other end Stewart picks it up and shoots at goal, and a deflection almost takes it in. Palmer re-adjusted to make the block. Wow, what a passage of play!
Updated
76 mins: There’s a distinct lack of urgency and, in truth, a lack of quality about this match now. Someone needs to ignite the fuse and set the playoff fireworks alight.
74 mins: Mowatt curls it over. Ah.
73 mins: Stephens switches to left-back for Southampton. Stewart will provide more of a physical presence up front.
The action is at the other end right now, though, as Harwood-Bellis is booked for a cynical block on Diangana, conceding a free-kick in a really dicey spot. Mowatt might fancy this. It’s just outside the box, slightly to the right, a left-footer’s dream.
72 mins: It’s actually a triple change for Southampton.
Mara, Armstrong and Manning are all replaced, with Brooks, Fraser and Stewart all introduced. It could be a change of shape, too, from Martin, more of a 4-3-3.
71 mins: Bartley has stayed on, despite that apparent injury, but miscues his header from the corner.
Updated
70 mins: Saints want to make their subs, but West Brom have forced a corner. Martin isn’t happy his replacements haven’t been allowed on yet. This would be an awful time to concede …
68 mins: Furlong hurls in a long throw from the right, into a cluster of bodies surrounding Alex McCarthy. A few shoves won’t stop the Saints stopper from claiming the ball.
Now, how about those changes, lads …
65 mins: Meanwhile, Southampton’s David Brooks is limbering up, as both sets of players take on more fluids.
64 mins: It’s going to be a defensive change for Albion – a forced one at that. Semi Ajayi is stripped and looks set to replace Bartley, who has been clutching his hamstring in the past few minutes.
63 mins: One of these managers needs to make an attacking change. Fresh legs will be vital on a day like this, in a game of such high stakes.
61 mins: Oh so close for the Baggies and it’s Furlong, stealing in from right-back to meet Johnston’s cross, who has gone closer than anyone today. There wasn’t a huge amount of conviction in the full-back’s finish, though.
60 mins: The momentum is back with West Brom and it’s all coming through their wingers. The Hawthorns senses something might be coming …
57 mins: Excellent wing play from West Brom. First Johnston gets on a run, then it’s switched to Fellows, who stands up a quality cross but there’s nobody there to nod it home. Eventually, it drops to Mowatt, who skews his volley way over.
56 mins: That’s a smart turn from Mara, outwitting Johnston who can’t help himself and sticks out a flailing leg. A clear trip and a yellow card.
The Baggies are getting a bit frustrated here, committing foul after foul. Corberan isn’t happy.
54 mins: Southampton’s wing-backs are pushing themselves up and up, with much of their attacking threat coming through them. The screw is turning here, you feel, as Aribo’s shot is blocked by Bartley.
52 mins: Downes is allowed to travel 30 or 40 metres, driving Southampton forward and eventually laying it off to Manning, whose cross is into bodies from the left. Better from the visitors, a little impetus at least.
Updated
51 mins: I’m afraid to report that a game of football has not yet broken out in this second half. Cagey doesn’t quite cover it.
50 mins: It’s West Brom’s turn to enjoy some measured possession. Mikey eventually gets it on the left but gets his cross all wrong.
48 mins: Saints have started the half in composed fashion, though they’re still having trouble getting Armstrong in the game. His first touch keeps allowing defenders to snuff him out. Aribo handles on the edge of the box, just as a shot was threatening.
Updated
Second half = started. No imminent changes, actually, despite it being thought Ross Stewart might be getting prepped.
The start of this game was delayed, and half-time seems to have taken an interminable amount of time, too. Looks like there could be a Southampton substitution in the offing as we prepare to resume in the West Bromwich heat.
For those of you on attendance-watch.
Att. 25,367 (1,996 Southampton fans) #wba
— Lewis Cox (@LewisCox_star) May 12, 2024
While I grab a half-time choc-ice, you can follow our coverage of the Women’s FA Cup final.
HT: West Brom 0-0 Southampton
A pretty even 45 minutes, you’d have to say. West Brom began brimming with fire and fervour, but Southampton have gradually blunted their enthusiastic hosts over time, looking every inch the 87-point side they were over the league campaign. The visitors have lacked a clinical touch, however, with Che Adams a big miss.
It’s on a knife-edge, it’s absorbing, but it’s not yet had the high drama that we’ve come to expect from playoff semi-finals in recent years. The best is yet to come (hopefully).
45 mins: Bartley is now on his haunches after colliding with his own keeper, Palmer, in an attempt to clear that latest corner.
We’re into three added minutes at the end of this first half.
44 mins: It came to little. A tepid sort of delivery from the midfielder.
Saints do now have a corner, though.
43 mins: Not winded, no. The Southampton wing-back is clutching his left ankle. Martin doesn’t look overly concerned and Walker-Peters is quickly back to his feet. Here comes the free-kick, which Smallbone will take from wide right …
42 mins: Boos among the home fans as Walker-Peters wins a free-kick and subsequently slaps the ground in apparent pain, after Townsend’s hefty challenge. KWP might need a minute here. Winded maybe?
41 mins: Right, West Brom and Southampton, any chance of breaking the deadlock before half-time please? These playoff games need goals!
I seem to have started a debate about the name ‘Mikey’.
Joe Pearson emails, clearly not enamoured with the My Family reference, with an alternative link.
To your older American readers, Mikey will always be the kid in the Life Cereal commercial:
39 mins: We’ve really not seen enough of Adam Armstrong in this half of football. He’s just been flagged offside as West Brom’s back four step up at the apt moment.
37 mins: Bartley ghosted in at the back stick from the free-kick and headed across goal, but it was too close to McCarthy.
36 mins: Southampton just need to be that bit braver when they reach the final third. Not enough passes are breaking the lines, it’s controlled but it’s not dangerous.
Talking of dangerous … Downes has been booked after a wild sliding challenge. Nailed-on yellow card, that.
34 mins: KWP with a crunching tackle on Mikeyyyyy … but it’s the hosts who are on the attack now.
Diangana dances of of trouble, wins a free-kick and McCarthy is forced into a cracking save to deny Diangana’s powerful downward header from Fellows’ stand-up cross. Good goalkeeping.
32 mins: Mara chases a seemingly lost cause and forces Bartley to boot it out of play. Southampton are properly in charge now; all the possession is theirs.
30 mins: Diangana trips up on the football and collides with his own corner flag. In the process he gifts Southampton the kick, which is aimed into the danger zone and ends with a Mara overhead kick. Wide.
29 mins: Back at the Hawthorns, Mikey Johnston continues to pester the Saints’ back four, a real nuisance of a winger, who has been a big hit at Albion on loan from Celtic. I’m a fan of his … my only issue is that I can’t say the name ‘Mikey’ without thinking of Robert Lindsay in My Family.
Updated
The report on the other playoff semi-final first leg has dropped, via Ben Bloom in north Norfolk. Cashback!
Time for a drinks break. We’re one eighth of the way through this tie, if you care about such fractions.
24 mins: Aribo nearly sneaks in, but Kyle Bartley recovers and shuts the door on the Saints’ striker. The ball over the top was almost inch-perfect.
23 mins: I wonder if West Brom flew out of the blocks a little too quickly. They were all action, bustling with energy and flying into tackles. But those levels have dropped now.
21 mins: Flynn Downes with the best chance of the game. It came from his tackle on Fellows, he played the give-and-go and then tried to guide his effort inside the far post from the left. Alex Palmer, in the hosts’ goal, stuck out a vital foot.
Updated
20 mins: Thomas-Asante gets caught on the ball in his own half, as Saints take their turn in pressing high and trying to force the issue.
17 mins: It’s more of an even contest now. Southampton have stood firm and remained resilient to withstand the Baggies’ early barrage … but they’re not out of the woods yet. Fellows seems to have the beating of Manning on the West Brom right.
15 mins: Aribo wriggles free in the centre and releases the on-running Walker-Peters from right wing-back. He stands up Townsend and arrows a shot that runs across the face of goal, via a deflection.
A few corners here for Saints.
13 mins: West Brom’s pressing has been effective so far, but Southampton are pass-masters and continue Martin’s strict policy of playing out of trouble no matter what the situation.
It’s bringing about some hairy moments at the back.
10 mins: Smallbone wins Saints a corner – their first foray forward of the afternoon. Manning nearly makes a mess of it before winning a second set piece.
9 mins: Russell Martin, looking rather bon chic in a navy blue t-shirt and resembling the owner of recently-opened wine bar, is also clapping and waving, in a far more panicked fashion than his opposite number.
7 mins: Carlos Corberán is matching his team’s intensity on the sidelines, waving his arms in all directions as the West Brom seige on Southampton’s goal continues. The visitors haven’t had a kick yet.
5 mins: There’s nothing leggy or weary about the way West Brom have started this game. They’re full of intensity, buoyed by a rowdy Hawthorns crowd. Harwood-Bellis has made a few telling interventions at the back for Saints already.
3 mins: Tom Fellows cuts in from the left, spins his man, and then goes down amid halfhearted appeals for an Albion penalty. It looks like Saints are in a back three/five, with Walker-Peters and Manning the wingbacks, being pushed back at the moment.
A Baggies’ corner is delivered well by Johnston and not cleared by Southampton. The hosts are on top early doors.
1 mins: I can’t begin to tell you how late this game kicked off. Why is that happening?
Oh well, no time to get angry, West Brom are on the front foot, driving forward through Mikey Johnston and Thomas-Asante.
KICK OFF
We’re off and running.
“All the pressure is on Southampton,” says the oracle of punditry, Troy Deeney. Apparently he scored an important goal in the playoffs once upon a time? Who knew?
As kick-off approaches, you wonder how much a mid-afternoon game in the heat and the sun will impact the teams. Energy seemed to sap quite quickly from Norwich and Leeds earlier.
The second leg is an evening game, on Friday night.
Just a great picture, this. Boiler Man rides again. There’s no shortage of playoff fever around The Hawthorns this afternoon.
Take note, whoeverwinstheplayoffs.
A minor point, but refreshing that 2 of the 3 teams coming straight back down from the PL do so with their promotion winning manager still in place, reflecting that the buck shouldn’t always stop with the them and that relegation isn’t always a sackable offence.
— George Elek (@GeorgeElek) May 11, 2024
It’s ended 0-0 at Carrow Road. Not a classic by any means. But that will have little to no bearing on proceedings over in the west midlands, as the players emerge down the tunnel after the warmups.
In fact, the lacklustre nature of Norwich and Leeds’ performances may even spur on these two sets of players. We’re almost ready to roll.
Updated
Southampton did the double over West Brom in the regular season, winning 2-0 at The Hawthorns in February. Both goalscorers from that game – Fraser and Brooks – are on the bench today.
Made it look easy 😮💨
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) May 11, 2024
⏮ #WBA (a) in February: pic.twitter.com/86NZ2pp3HP
So… remember when I said the Championship playoffs were always exciting and packed full of action? Looks like Norwich v Leeds has been more of a slow burner. Still 0-0 going into the final stages. Our MBM has you covered.
Some analysis of the team news now and you will struggle to see two sets of substitutes stronger than these, in Championship terms.
West Brom’s replacements have plenty of Premier League pedigree and a strong whiff of 2016 about them, while Saints being able to boast Ryan Fraser, David Brooks and Joe Rothwell on their bench is frankly outrageous.
That’s not to decry the ability of any of the starters. Adam Armstrong has been one of the Championship’s best players this season, although the absence of Che Adams is a blow – Martin said Southampton are managing the striker’s fitness through these playoffs. You suspect Grady Diangana will have to step up if West Brom are to progress to Wembley; he’s the creative hub of Carlos Corberán’s side.
Team news
West Brom: Palmer; Furlong, Bartley, Kipré, Townsend; Mowatt, Yoksulu; Fellows, Diangana, Johnston; Thomas-Asante
Subs: Griffiths, Ajayi, Wallace, Phillips, Chalobah, Weimann, Swift, Reach, M’Vila.
Southampton: McCarthy; Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Stephens; Smallbone, Downes, Aribo; Manning, Mara, Armstrong
Subs: Lumley, Stewart, Bree, Rothwell, Sulemana, Edozie, Charles, Fraser, Brooks
Preamble
Welcome! The denouement to the Premier League is looking increasingly predictable so, as usual, the Football League playoffs are the place to look for nail-biting end-of-season drama. We’ve already had it in spades down the leagues, now the second tier takes centre-stage.
A whopping 12 points separated West Brom and Southampton in the final Championship standings after 46 games, but it would be foolhardy to suggest Saints are nailed-on for a spot in the final. Pretty much anything could happen in these two legs, the first of which takes place at The Hawthorns on this sunny Sunday afternoon. Expect the Baggies’ fans, Boiler Man in tow, to make a racket today and make things tough for Russell Martin’s Southampton. There’s probably a joke about things boiling over but it’s evading me …
Kick off is at 2.15pm BST.
