Analysis of Albion 3 Sheff Utd 1

Another weekend brought another delicious twist in the enthralling race for the Premier League.

And next up for Albion it's Blackpool, where they have some 'previous' when it comes to picking up the promotion pace.

Two years ago the Baggies went to the Lancashire seaside, climbed back to the top of the Championship and never looked back.

On Wednesday they will return to Bloomfield Road with the door to the promotion zone once more ajar and the changing winds at the top of the table shifting back in their direction.

Unlike two years ago, when the visit was preceded by FA Cup heartache at Wembley, they will arrive on the coast this week with spirits high and tails up.

Because after several weeks of poor performance followed by a couple of nights of tough luck, the latest chapter of an intensifying Championship story belonged emphatically to Roberto Di Matteo and his team.

They took the field for a huge clash with Sheffield United to be greeted by news of Nottingham Forest's inevitable yet improbably delayed slip-up.

The afternoon ended with Di Matteo and his staff holed up in his Hawthorns office watching leaders Newcastle labour to two dropped points at Leicester.

And, most vitally, in between times Albion sent out an emphatic message to the top two, and the unshakable chasing pack, that they are refusing to go away.

The 90-minute domination of United was Albion's best display since they put the Blades' steel city rivals, Sheffield Wednesday, to the sword at Hillsborough two months earlier.

It was just their second home victory in the League since the rout of Bristol City in early November and their best Hawthorns showing since.

And, most crucially of all, it was the victory they needed so badly to cement the slow, painstaking return to form that began once their winter slide had reached its nadir with a defeat to Forest that even Di Matteo's staff branded 'disgusting'.

In the wake of that loss, home truths were spoken, places were lost and systems were altered.

And, the matches that followed, performances improved, points were collected and FA Cup progress was secured.

Yet they needed a win in the League, preferably in front of their own supporters, to confirm the turnaround was real.

Saturday provided the clearest signals yet that the Baggies are beginning to rediscover their mojo.

They had a little assistance to make the important early breakthrough against a rough and ready Blades, but Kevin Blackwell's side left the Midlands knowing they had been soundly beaten, for all their justified carping at some dubious refereeing.

For the second time in a week the Baggies were involved in a 'phantom penalty'. But, unlike at Ipswich last Tuesday, the latest spot-kick went in their favour.

It was given against United midfielder Nick Montgomery for handball as he tried to halt Graham Dorrans' dart into the box, but Albion appeared as nonplussed as their opponents as referee Mick Russell pointed to the spot.

The arguments dragged on but Dorrans kept his composure to rifle home from the spot for his 11th goal of a remarkable personal campaign.

Once more the Scot's energy and invention were at the heart of all that was good about the Baggies, and their superiority in the opening half prevented their visitors making any inroads – or completing more than a handful of passes.

Roman Bednar should have made it 2-0 on 24 minutes when an incisive move ended with him meeting Gonzalo Jara's pull-back, only to side-foot wide from a couple of yards.

To his credit, the Czech put that horrid miss out of his mind to find the net just seven minutes later, latching onto a clever Jerome Thomas pass and sliding home a calm shot to complete an impressive counter-attack.

And it should have been 3-0 before the break, Bednar again missing a fine opening as he rolled a shot into the side netting after pouncing on Stephen Quinn's woeful backpass.

Yet moments into the second period the Blades had an unlikely lifeline as Quinn burst into the box, Youssouf Mulumbu made a challenge and the visiting midfielder went down.

The Baggies were far from pleased, but given their own earlier stroke of fortune they could hardly tale the moral high ground.

Darius Henderson did not look the gift horse in the mouth as he blasted past Scott Carson.

The tension lasted just three minutes, however, before Albion sprang on the break again with Dorrans finding Thomas, who cut into the box unchecked and hammered home with the aid of a deflection off Chris Morgan.

United upped their performance levels but the Baggies were never in any genuine trouble until the final moments, when former Wolves man Henri Camara stepped off the bench, burst into the box and tumbled under Jonas Olsson's challenge.

The striker claimed a penalty, but was ultimately lucky to avoid a dismissal as he reacted to Olsson's shrieks of indignation with a clear hand in the defender's face.

In the closing seconds Dorrans played one final, incisive one-two with Bednar and cut inside Fortune before unleashing a curling shot on target.

A goal would have given the Scot the grandstand moment his latest magnificent display merited and Albion the winning margin their dominance deserved.

It was not to be. But, for both Dorrans and the team he drives on, there will be other days; other chances of glory.

Perhaps one will come on Wednesday, when they return to scene of previous drama looking to seize another crucial moment in this pulsating season – but knowing for certain it will not be the last.

Albion will endure setbacks. So will Newcastle, Forest and any other clubs with ambitions to break into the scramble for the top flight.

But, after a month or two of mounting concerns within a fanbase with high expectations, Albion used Saturday to prove an important point.

As Sheffield United will testify, the Baggies remain one of the Championship's leading teams.

And, as the relentless schedule continues by the seaside this week, that should give them all the belief they need to recreate a little piece of recent history.

By Steve Madeley.