Away fans in good voice
Away fans get a lower tier block in the North East corner at Dickinson Hill Stadium (we have been told not to prefix the venue's name with ‘the’). Acoustics are excellent and the away section used them to tell the home contingent they were a bit quiet.
Going to script
One sensed media arrived with three or four storylines already in mind. It always felt like the atmosphere would not have to be that good and Jack Grealish would not have to do too much for both to earn rave reviews. There did not appear to any mention of a Moyes masterclass against his young opponent this time but the Baleba to Manchester United talk reared its ugly head in the press conference for written media. Was he distracted by all the talk? Hurzeler quickly knocked that idea on the head.
Was he offside?
There were plenty of looks to the monitors in the press box to check for offside in the build-up to the second goal. It looked like Jan Paul van Hecke in the middle was playing Thierno Barry just onside.
End of the run
An impressive run ended in defeat. Albion had won their opening away league game in each of the previous six seasons, four of them by three-goal margins including last season at Goodison Park. By the end, it was the visitors who were pining for the old place.