West Bromwich Albion 2 Ipswich Town 0

Last updated : 30 December 2006 By Footymad Previewer
Diomansy Kamara and Jason Koumas continued their red-hot run of form in front of goal as West Bromwich Albion's promotion charge gathered further momentum with a hard fought success against luckless Ipswich Town.

Senegal international striker Kamara took his goal tally to 12 in just 16 appearances in the 51st minute to set Albion on the way to a fifth successive home win.

Koumas set the seal on the success with a powerful 30-yard drive after 67 minutes - his sixth goal in nine games.

His strike took Albion's goal tally to an impressive 15 in their last five home games.

But there was a touch of good fortune about the way that they broke the deadlock as Kamara bundled home the rebound after Ipswich goalkeeper Lewis Price had beaten out his penalty.

Kamara had won the spot-kick himself when his left-wing cross was handled by Sylvain Legwinski.

The defeat, only Ipswich's second in six games and their first on the road in three, was tough on Town and Price in particular.

Price had stood firm against Albion and just 60 seconds before being beaten by Kamara had won a one on one battle with Kevin Phillips with a smart piece of goalkeeping.

He also denied Kamara a second goal - blocking his rising drive in the 64th minute.

But there was nothing that he could do to stop Koumas when he let fly to finally end the resistance of Ipswich, who had looked the better side in the early skirmishes.

Ipswich, who had been beaten 5-1 at home by Albion in October, made a fast start and the Portman Road outfit could easily have taken charge of affairs in the opening 15 minutes.

But they were let down by their finishing as Jon Macken failed to hit the target from close range when unmarked, before Legwinski saw his low drive saved by Russell Hoult.

Albion's lethargic opening was summed up by the fact that their key player, Koumas, was anonymous in the early exchanges.

It was only when the Welsh midfielder came to life with two long-range drives in the space of 60 seconds that Albion finally started to wake up from their slumbers.

Price then produced a wonder save to prevent Albion taking the lead when skipper Jason De Vos threatened to score a spectacular own goal.

In trying to clear a 32nd minute Darren Carter corner, De Vos only succeeded in heading the ball goalwards and it needed a spectacular intervention from Price to keep Ipswich on level terms, before Albion's second-half rally ended their challenge.