Albion’s Second Tier Season Comparison – 41 games | OneFootball

A demoralising defeat at Ashton Gate leaves Tony Mowbray’s team grimly hanging on to hopes of finishing in the top six by their fingertips. Unfortunately, their current run of results suggests that those hopes are already dashed.

Based on the average points-per-game of their remaining opponents, Albion actually have the easiest run-in of any side in the division as they play three of the bottom four. Bristol City have one of the toughest having to play both Leeds United and Sunderland in their final five games, but Middlesbrough and Coventry City have relatively easy run-ins.

The Baggies’ current run of 13 away games without victory matches a club record in the second tier which last occurred between October 1929 and March 1930. If you are looking for positive omens, however, that run ended with what was the second in a run of seven straight wins to end that season to finish sixth, followed by another four straight wins at the beginning of the following campaign in which Albion were promoted and won the FA Cup!

Albion haven’t lost game 42 in a season since 1997/98 and have won that particular fixture in the last five second tier campaigns. One of the more memorable game 42s was in the year 2000 when Bolton Wanderers were the visitors to the Hawthorns. Sneekes gave the hosts the lead from the spot before Bo Hanson equalised with a header that went in off the post. Sean Flynn put Albion back in front with a rare header from the diminutive midfielder, but Wanderers equalised once again the current chair of the FA of Iceland, Guðni Bergsson, ten minutes into the second half. Another Icelandic, Eidur Gudjohnsen, put the visitors ahead for the first time when he was put through on goal before Bob Taylor’s spectacular overhead kick made it 3-3 with eleven minutes left. Baggies substitute, Adam Oliver, looked to have won it when he made it 4-3 in the dying minutes but Bergsson scored in stoppage time to make the final score 4-4.

The Baggies played Watford at home in game 42 of Mowbray’s last Championship campaign at the Hawthorns in 2008 – the game finished 1-1.

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