Albion and Cardiff play out thriller

West Bromwich Albion 3 Cardiff City 3

The passing was wayward, the finishing erratic and some of the defending woeful, writes Steve Madeley.

In fact, if it came to picking faults with Albion on Saturday the list could fill much of this page.

So let's not. For a while at least.

Because to dwell on the negatives from this classic encounter would be to miss the point of a proper Hawthorns thriller and to ignore the merits of a wonderful fightback.

It was scintillating from start to finish and the crowd of more than 22,000 simply lapped it up.

Even the rival managers – usually the most critical men in the ground – got wrapped up in the magic of it all.

"You can analyse every goal that goes in against you and pick faults," said Albion's Tony Mowbray. "But let's look at the positives of some great chances and great football."

Cardiff's Dave Jones agreed.

"We can criticise them for conceding from set-plays," he said. "But I would rather slap them on the back and say it was a fantastic game of football from two teams."

And so say all of us.

The critical analysis will come later, but first a celebration of a match that was great even by the new exalted standards of Tony Mowbray's Albion.

There was fantastic drama literally from the first minute to the last, and it barely stopped for a moment in between.

There were disruptive injuries, a string of missed chances and an end-to-end flow that made it enthralling; not to mention some splendid crosses and fine goals.

Factor in some generous defending and a massive slice of fortune in the dying moments and the result was an afternoon that will live long in the memory.

At another club in another season the kamikaze tendancies that have allowed the chasing pack to stay in touch with the Baggies in the promotion race might have prompted major doubts in the stands.

But as Albion head the race to the Premier League with 19 games remaining, the fans appear to be loving it.

If the roars of approval that greeting the final whistle on Saturday are any guide then no-one at The Hawthorns will complain about defending while defending while the show remains as good as this.

The fans got in on the act too. Egged on by a huge, vociferous following from South Wales, the Baggies fans responded magnificently and, by the time Roger Johnson's unfortunate own-goal secured a point for Mowbray's men on 88 minutes, The Hawthorns was rocking.

Even referee Kevin Friend was clearly enjoying himself. A total of 12 minutes of added time must surely be a Championship record.

It's no wonder he didn't want the drama to end. And he wasn't alone in wishing that football was always like this, although Albion's quest for promotion might require some more sobre occasions if it is to end in triumph in four months' time.

Mowbray will redouble his efforts to add defensive competence to his side's attacking brilliance, but judging by the evidence of the last seven days his chances do not seem especially good.

When heart rates returned to normal on Saturday, captain Jonathan Greening revealed that the Baggies had spent the week working on being harder to break down.

We can only assume that the kick-off routine they employed in the opening seconds of the game was not part of their training ground repertoire.

Albion started the game and exchanged a couple of passes before Filipe Teixeira was caught in possession, Cardiff found Paul Parry and his chip spun off the foot of the desperately stretching Chris Brunt and looped over Dean Kiely.

With 29 seconds on the clock they were a goal behind and they had not escaped their own half.

Still, with their A-game temporarily out of reach the Baggies are currently doing things the hard way, so there was a widespread belief that Parry's opener would only be a minor setback.

When Ismael Miller twice left Tony Capaldi standing and then Filipe Teixeira jinked into the Cardiff box momentum looked to be gathering behind Albion.

And when Kevin Phillips unleashed a splendid swerving shot that Michael Oakes turned around the post at full stretch hopes were raised still further.

But Albion had already survived a couple more minor scares and just as they looked certain to equalised they found themselves hit on the break again.

Martin Albrechtsen failed to cut out Darcy Blake's pass, Pele failed to stop Parry's impressive run and Kiely failed to block his clinical finish. It was 2-0 and suddenly things were looking serious.

Fresh hope arrived just two minutes later, however, as Albion's irresistible strikeforce struck in the form of Roman Bednar.

Twenty minutes after replacing the injured Miller, the Czech forward thundered in to meet Jonathan Greening's free-kick and plant a header past Oakes.

The second half began with Albion pouring forward and looking odds-on to equalise, but once more they showed they are at their most vulnerable when they are attacking.

A move broke down in the left-hand corner and Cardiff broke again from end to end with Joe Ledley profiting from a deflection off Greening to squeeze home a shot from a tight angle.

It was time for Mowbray to gamble further and a double substitution – left winger Chris Brunt at left-back and Albrechtsen and Leon Barnett two-on-two at the back.

They might have been cruelly exposed but the sheer force of their will and attacking talent ensured they never were.

It seemed inevitable that a second Baggies goal would bring a third, and so it proved. After a gruelling 120 minutes four days earlier their reserves of energy and spirit were tremendous.

Oakes made a great save from a Phillips header but in the scramble that followed Brunt's cross was headed in by Albrechtsen.

And with Zoltan Gera and James Morrison having added extra spark from the bench, the final twist arrived with less than two minutes of the 90 remaining.

Gera's cross was missed by Glenn Loovens and sliced into his own net by Johnson.

A brilliant game deserved a more fitting ending and it almost had it when Gera drove a cross-shot just wide in stoppage time.

But it was not a day to criticise the finale. It was day to relish drama.