When everything goes well

Most football fans will be able to tell when their team was doing well hadn't lost at home for months and played some struggling team in a league game and then came crashing down to earth with a bang, beaten by 1 goal to nil and against 10 men too! And it was the only live TV game from their ground in the last 2 seasons - what an advert to the nation (DOH!). These memories hurt and they give rise to that greatest of all sportsfans ailments, pessimism.

To the law of pessimism; QPR pushed to the bottom of the championship following Sheffield Wednesdays win at Norwich yesteday were nailed on certainties to frustrate a West Brom team who had not conceded a home goal in the league since Wednesday (incoincidentally) won at the Hawthorns in April. With the match Live to the Nation on Sky Sports 1 this was a certainty - surely.

However there are some matches when everything goes well and the same team that would have got one over on you on one of 'those' days comes and gets a hiding. This is what most fans hope for more often than they dare to expect it. West Brom won 5-1 and dispatched QPR with some ease and something to spare. On top of that they played some attractive football and entertained those that had paid just £10 to get in as well as those in TV land. The attendance of 24,000 was also proof that by lowering the price (to encourage the paying fan to get to the game rather than watch at home or in the pub) they had done good business and also created a great atmosphere in the ground. If there is a club with a just cause to dare to dream, then it must be the team that once clawed back 11 points in two months on rivals Wolves to win promotion and also achieved the great escape from the premiership basement at Christmas to stay up. Despite the Wembley play off defeat in May I'm there is renewed optimism around the Hawthorns again.
It's amazing what a good win can do!