West Brom's Neil Clement battles with Matt Holland at the Valley.
Relegation battle hots up
By Chris Hatherall. Monday, 21 March 2005.
Southampton and West Brom share TheFA.com’s award for Team of the Weekend after outstanding performances in the Premiership.
It was a great 48 hours for the relegation battlers, with both teams scoring astonishing away victories.
West Brom – managed by former England hero Bryan Robson - stunned Charlton by winning 4-1 at The Valley, with Robert Earnshaw scoring a hat-trick. England will certainly have to look out for him when they play Wales later this year!
But Southampton followed that result up by beating Middlesbrough 3-1 away from home on Sunday, with England Under 21 cap Peter Crouch scoring twice.
Saints assistant boss Jim Smith said: "We now go into the international break with a huge psychological boost of being out of the bottom three. It was a great win for us."
Baggies boss Robson, talking about his side’s victory 24 hours earlier, said: "That result had been coming for a while because we have been creating chances. Hopefully it will send shockwaves through our rivals. We have given ourselves a chance of staying up – if we keep believing."
Elsewhere, Sunderland moved to the top of the Championship by beating Coventry 1-0 and deserve a mention.
So do Peter Taylor’s Hull for a 4-0 away trouncing of Bournemouth in League 1 and rock-bottom Cambridge for scoring a 2-1 home win over Wycombe in League 2.
In the Conference, runaway leaders Barnet were again the headline makers with their incredible 7-1 demolition of Farnborough. Guiliano Grazioli scored a hat-trick at Underhill.
And FA Cup heroes Yeading edged closer to the Ryan Premier title with a 1-0 home victory over Folkestone – they are now eight points clear at the top of the table.