Scunthorpe 1 West Brom 3 - report

Halfway to May. And halfway to glory, writes Steve Madeley.

Albion turned for home in the great Championship marathon last night as their campaign boiled down to a simple equation.

If X is the first half of the season, then X x 2 = P. P for promotion. P for party. P for Premier League.

While his predecessor worked in ambitious pictures and deep philosophy, Roberto Di Matteo is comfortable with facts and figures.

And the head coach with a business degree will doubtless be delighted with his team's half-year results.

If they match their output in the second half of the season, the Italian will be raising a rare glass of wine next spring.

Say it quickly, and it even starts to sound easy.

Another tough afternoon in the muck and nettles of the Championship yesterday proved it will be nothing of the sort.

Yet another hard-fought, ground-out win showed Albion are capable of standing up to the ugly side of this most gruelling division.

And to the list of qualities on their collective resume, Di Matteo's men can now add opportunism.

Because they were given a serious helping hand on a freezing day at Glanford Park. But they wasted no time in grasping the late Christmas gifts that were delivered to them on Humberside.

Rob Jones's unexpected equaliser early in the second half looked set to hold back the Baggies in a game they looked on course to dominate when they led 1-0 at half-time through Graham Dorrans' sixth goal of the season.

But a loss of discipline from a limited Iron side combined with some hotly contested refereeing decisions in Albion's favour opened a chink in the home side's armour. And the Baggies were ruthless in pressing home that advantage.

By the time referee Jon Moss ended his and Scunthorpe's misery with the final whistle, the home side were a dishevelled mess while their visitors were comfortable winners.

However, for spells in the second half things were a good deal more tense than the end result suggested.

Dorrans' emphatic opening goal had handed the visitors a 1-0 half-time lead that their overall play in the opening period merited, even if they did have to survive an early fright from United's Garry Thompson.

But Jones's 47th-minute strike restored parity to the scoreline and the game and not until Andrew Wright's 65th-minute red card did things swing back in Di Matteo's favour.

Even then, and after Dorrans had won and converted a penalty to make it 2-1, some nerves remained until Grant McCann's dismissal made it 11 versus nine and Gianni Zuiverloon's second goal of the season provided some breathing space.

The Baggies' biggest first-half alarm came on eight minutes as a routine long ball and a regulation flick-on sent Thompson racing clear but he slid his shot just wide as keeper Dean Kiely raced out to narrow the angle.

Albion, however, could have led moments later as Scunthorpe squandered possession on halfway and Simon Cox seized on it to trigger a Baggies attack.

Jerome Thomas eventually delivered a cross to the far post but Luke Moore's glancing header was off target and Chris Brunt's follow-up effort flew into the side netting.

A taster of the later controversy came soon afterwards when Moore thought he had given his side the lead.

He seized on some sluggish defending and won the ball from a mix-up between Murphy and David Mirfin, showing persistence to collect it and fire into an empty net.

But, as he wheeled away to celebrate Moore spotted a flag for an alleged handball in the build-up.

There was no mistake on 20 minutes, however, as Thomas was fed by Brunt's wonderful crossfield ball with his right-foot and tied Marcus Williams in knots.

Thomas fed Marek Cech and his cross was only palmed away by Murphy for Dorrans, who was on hand to collect the rebound and lash in a left-footed shot.

Albion looked well in charge as the half-time whistle blew but, out of nowhere, they were pegged back within the first two minutes of the second period.

A corner from the Scunthorpe right was played to Josh Wright, whose shot was deflected for Jones to force home the rebound.

But Albion were handed the initiative on 62 minutes when the home side were reduced to 10 men.

Andrew Wright sent Thomas tumbling as he headed for goal and received his second yellow card.

The visitors thought they had taken immediate advantage when Dorrans' resulting free-kick was headed in by Moore, only for the offside flag to cut short his celebrations.

But they only had to wait three minutes to take the lead in controversial fashion after Dorrans burst into the box and won a penalty when he was challenged by Michael O'Connor.

O'Connor was booked for the tackle and Murphy for his appeals but Dorrans kept his composure to drive the spot-kick hard to Murphy's left and inside the post.

With 15 minutes to go referee Moss sparked more angry reactions from home fans by awarding another spot-kick for Jones's foul on Moore before showing McCann a straight red card for his angry response.

The nine-man home team were left with an outside chance of a comeback when Dorrans drilled his kick too close to Murphy and was denied his hat-trick by the keeper's straightforward save.

That meant the final moments were more nervy than they needed to be for the Baggies, but Zuiverloon ended any doubt over the result when he drove into the Scunthorpe area and hammered a right-footed shot into the roof of the net.

That strike wrapped up a magnificent Christmas for Albion with six points collected while several rivals have stuttered.

Still there are those who remain to be convinced by Di Matteo, by his new-look squad or by the Hawthorns structure he now works within.

Yet they will find it difficult to take issue with the results of his opening few months at the helm.

Statistics might not tell the whole truth. But they rarely deliver bare-faced lies.

And 45 points on at the year's end says Albion are doing very nicely, thank you.