Analysis of Albion 3 Preston 2

Albion could be back in the Premier League within a fortnight at this rate.

Yet while the Baggies' promotion might end up looking decisive, the process will be anything but smooth.

Saturday's latest compelling chapter of the race for a top-two finish left Roberto Di Matteo's men another step closer to their primary objective.

But the defensive giveaways on the field and astonishing boos off it suggested that players and supporters are determined to make life hard for each other.

For much of the afternoon the Baggies and their fans did everything right as some of their most incisive attacking football for weeks propelled them to a fourth successive Championship win.

But at times the team seemed intent on putting their followers through the emotional wringer, while a section of the Hawthorns crowd drove a further wedge between themselves and their team with their shocking treatment of substitute Luke Moore.

The defending that handed Preston hope in a game they should have been out of was symptomatic of the nagging worries that have made the second-half of an otherwise impressive season much more trying than it might have been.

Astonishing booing of Moore before he had even joined the action was indicative of the strained relations between this Baggies side and a vocal minority of the fanbase.

For reasons that are difficult to fathom, Di Matteo's Albion have not connected as fully with the crowd as either Gary Megson's or Tony Mowbray's promotion-winning sides of the recent past.

If and when the current side emulate their predecessors by winning a place at English football's top table, the disquiet among some of their supporters will give a notable achievement a slightly sour taste.

For their part, the team are struggling to allay the genuine footballing concerns that the rational majority hold, especially about their defending.

Having shown encouraging signs of improvement in the early months of this season, the post-Christmas programme has brought evidence of a fragile backline reverting to type.

After watching the hosts keep their visitors in the game in a breathless first-half, one experienced viewer observed that Mowbray "would have been proud." It was not meant as a compliment.

Just nine minutes into their latest tricky assignment the Baggies had a platform to kill off the game and ensure a comfortable afternoon for all concerned.

On seven minutes a scruffy one-two between Robert Koren and Ishmael Miller on the edge of the Preston box allowed the Slovenian to flick a clever first-time pass towards the darting midfield run of Ben Watson.

Sean St Ledger tried in desperation to cut it out by succeeded only in deflecting it into Watson's path, with the on-loan midfield sweeping home confidently for his first Albion goal.

Two minutes later the hosts were two in front, thanks in part to a piece of team defending from the visitors of which Mowbray might also have approved.

The Lilywhites defenders stepped up to catch Miller and Chris Brunt offside but Graham Dorrans' perfectly-weighted 30-yard pass found the feet of Brunt, who took a touch to compose himself before side-footing low past goalkeeper Andy Lonergan as North End appealed forlornly for a flag.

That clinical touch from Brunt should have meant 'game over' with his side in charge completely, with Dorrans displaying his full repertoire of tricks. How Miller failed to even test Lonergan after Dorrans had tricked his way brilliantly past Chris Sedgwick and Michael Hart to deliver the ball on a plate remains a mystery.

But Baggies regulars knew better than to relax, sure enough their side contrived to throw their visitors a lifeline. First they opened up to give Sedgwick a free far-post header with goalkeeper Scott Carson forced to save.

Then, from the resulting corner, the otherwise impeccable Gabriel Tamas lost his bearings completely and Sean St Ledger, who the Romanian was detailed to stop, found himself unmarked inside the six yard box to head home.

It was the kind of howler that undermined their Premier League campaign last season and will do so again unless it is eradicated.

Still the Baggies held sway in open play with St Ledger doing brilliantly to deny Miller a far-post tap-in from Brunt's cross and Brunt firing wide from Miller's centre.

The pressure paid off on 33 minutes when Callum Davidson tripped Miller and the superb Dorrans blasted a 25-yard free-kick into the top corner of Lonergan's net, with a level of nonchalance that suggested he knows he can do no wrong right now.

Dorrans left Sedgwick for dead again with a nutmeg on the byline moments later, but couldn't pick out Miller. But, yet again, Di Matteo's men let slip a dominant two-goal lead.

Ross Wallace's bending crossfield pass from inside his own half on 43 minutes was fantastic, but that single ball should never have undone a promotion-chasing side. It did, and Neil Mellor ignored a token offside appeal to race clear, round Carson and finish with composure.

After a first-half full of incident the second period was an inevitable anti-climax, although both goalkeepers were called upon.

Carson made a smart save to deny former Baggie Richard Chaplow before Lonergan excelled, first with a double save to deny Miller and then with a diving block from Watson's volley.

But the story of the half was the treatment of Moore from a noisy section of the usually supportive Smethwick End. The boos that rang out as the former Villa man approached the touchline to replace Miller on 72 minutes shocked even seasoned Hawthorns regulars.

Whatever the dubious merits of Moore's two-year Baggies career – and this newspaper has been critical of some limp displays – the public humiliation of 'one of their own' can only be divisive for fans.

The supportive response from the positive majority was an encouraging piece of spontaneous damage limitation, and the player himself responded with a lively cameo.

But it could not erase the memory of a distasteful moment that spoiled another significant step on the road to promotion. Divisions on the sidelines can only make the task for Di Matteo and Co harder.

As they showed again on Saturday, they are pretty good at making things tough for themselves.

By Steve Madeley