<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Brunt itching to make debut </p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">Posted on:Fri 31 Aug 2007</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">CHRIS Brunt is chomping at the bit to make his long-awaited Albion debut against Barnsley tomorrow (ko 3pm).</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">The £3million summer signing from Sheffield Wednesday has been forced to watch the last three games from the sidelines as he completeda three-match ban for his sending-off on the Owls' pre-season tour of Holland.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">Besides playing in Wednesday's opening-day defeat at Ipswich, the left-sided midfielder's only other senior action this term came in a 61-minute run-out forNorthern Ireland in theirEuro 2008 qualifying win over Liechtenstein nine days ago.<a name="continue" />"It's been a long time coming," said Brunt."As well as the suspension, it's been difficult settling in here because, with the international break, I was only here for a day's training and then I was gone for five days.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">"Thankfully, I've been here all this week and played in the reserves on Wednesday night."I've spoken to most of the boys and everyone has made me feel welcome."I'm just looking forward to getting a game under my belt."The 22-year-old ace smashed ten goals from the middle of the park last season to help persuade Mowbray to capture his signature.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">And he insists the tag of being one of Albion's most expensive ever signings will spur him on to make his mark at The Hawthorns."With the transfer fee that West Brom have paid, people are going to be expecting things," added Brunt.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">"Maybe it is a little bit more added pressure."But it's down to me to work hard in training and get myself into the team and perform."That's my main aim."It's a challenge I'm looking forward to."Hopefully, I can get settled in and get into the games straight away to show what I can do."Brunt was part of the Owls side that won promotion to the Championship through the play-offs in 2005.Although that success came at a lower level, he is hoping it will stand him in good stead now he has joined a club widely-tipped to push for a top-six berth."I experienced pressure with Sheffield Wednesday a couple of years ago when we were in League One," added Brunt.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">"We got through the play-offs and had a massive fan base expecting us to win every week."It's not always as straight forward as that."We had a similar sort of pressure in the league below."It's obviously going to be different here and it may take me a while to get used to it. "But we've got great players andwe'll hopefully be up there this season."</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">Boss wary of new-look Tykes </p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">Posted on:Fri 31 Aug 2007</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">TONY Mowbray is expecting Barnsley to pose a very different test tomorrow compared to the last time the two teams met at The Hawthorns.The Tykes finished on the wrong end of the Baggies' biggest home league win for 17 years on the final day of last season, losing 7-0, as the hosts booked a play-off place instyle.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">But the Albion boss has warned his troops it will be no walk in the park this time round against Simon Davey's much-changed side."Barnsley have had a big turnaround of personnel which is very similar to ourselves," said Mowbray.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">"They've made about a dozen signings in this window and changed things around a lot.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">"I think the team we'll see at the weekend will be unrecognisable from the team we saw at The Hawthorns in May.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">"I've watched some of their games this season and they're playing a different formation.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">"They had three at the back against Colchester and played it very well.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">"They put the ball around the pitch well andcaused Colchester lots of problems.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">"It's a game where we'll have to be at our very best, full of energy and quality."Despite their 4-1 opening-day defeat against Coventry, Barnsley battled out a 2-2 draw at in-form Colchester and beat Plymouth 3-2 in their last two Championship encounters.Mowbray believes patience could once again be the key to breaking down the South Yorkshire outfit.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">"Teams are going to come to The Hawthorns, like last season, looking to make life difficult for us," he added.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">"Preston proved a very difficult nut to crack for long, long spells a couple of weeks ago."We're going to have a lot of games like that that aren't open football matches."We'll have to dig in some days and be patient.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">"The supporterswill also need to be patient."Hopefully, we've got quality on the bench if and when we need to change the running of a game, which helps."We've had two decent results at home so far."Hopefully, we can get another one at the weekend."Tykes midfielder Martin Devaney is a doubt for tomorrow's game but Istvan Ferenczi and Kayode Odejayi are set to return from injury.Four-goal top scorer Brian Howard (illness) and ex-Baggie Andy Johnson (rested) are available after missing Wednesday's Carling Cup defeat at Newcastle.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">Anderson De Silva and Stephen Foster are also back in contention after being cup-tied for theSt James' Park trip.</p>
Brunt dont need to remind everyone of the goal he scored against us last season, I hope the Blade we have at right back has a blinder against him.
wasn't it commented on by a few wendy's that it was a fluke... ie 99 times out of a hundred they always ended up in the back of the stand ****** he is anyway
RE: wasn't it commented on by a few wendy's that it was a fluke... Thing is he had hit the stand about 99 times before that shot.
