West Brom 3 Preston 2: Baggies hold their nerve to edge Hawthorns thriller

21 March 2010 17:36
West Brom go into their last eight Championship games with a commanding eight-point cushion over automatic promotion rivals Nottingham Forest.[LNB]But they made hard work of this sixth successive home win, despite surging into a 2-0 lead inside the first 10 minutes of a five-goal opening half.[LNB] In the Bagg: Preston's Ross Wallace battles for the ball with West Brom's Gianni Zuiverloon[LNB]Preston battled bravely until the end in a bid to salvage a point,but were ultimately undone by Graham Dorrans' stunning 33rd minutefree-kick for his 16th goal of the season.[LNB]The visitors began confidently, having been unbeaten in their lastfive games. But it took the Championship's top scorers no time at allto expose their frailties.[LNB]Robert Koren and Ishmael Miller combined to work an opening for BenWatson to nose Albion ahead in the seventh minute with his first goalsince his loan move from Wigan last month.[LNB]Then the impressive Dorrans pierced the Preston defence with athrough-ball for the unmarked Chris Brunt to fire coolly past AndyLonergan.[LNB]Miller should have added a third in the 13th minute, but he headed wide from another penetrating pass from Dorrans.[LNB]Sloppy defending allowed Birmingham-born Sean St Ledger to cut thedeficit in the 15th minute with an unchallenged diving header from RossWallace's corner.[LNB]But Preston had no answer to Dorrans' spectacular 30-yard free-kickwhich arrowed into the top corner to put Albion 3-1 ahead. The homeside were again caught out themselves 10 minutes later when Neil Mellorburst clear from Callum Davidson's long crossfield pass to make it 3-2.[LNB]There were no further goals, but it took England international ScottCarson's save of the game from Richard Chaplow's free-kick to denyPreston a 50th-minute equaliser.[LNB]Albion promptly stepped up a gear and after Watson forced a smartsave from Lonergan in the 59th minute, the North End keeper kept hisside alive with a double save from Miller four minutes later.[LNB]Nerves swept around The Hawthorns in the final 15 minutes, butAlbion held on to record their eighth successive home league victoryover Preston.[LNB] Nottingham Forest 1 Peterborough 0: Earnshaw strikes to sink plucky PoshMiddlesbrough 1 Reading 1: Royals dent borough play-off hopes after Wheater own goalIpswich 1 Barnsley 0: Murphy boosts blues' survival hopes after Keane hair-dryer treatment does the trickQPR 1 Swansea 1: Super sub German denies Sousa his Loftus Road revenge [LNB] [LNB]  

Source: Daily_Mail