Albion’s Second Tier Season Comparison – 39 games

It may not have been as impressive or as fluid as the victory over Hull City, but a battling 1-0 win at Ashton Gate for Mozza’s Baggies was just as important and just as deserved. It should have been just as comfortable as the defeat of the Tigers, albeit Albion weren’t as good up front, but I never really felt as though the Robins looked like scoring, albeit a 1-0 lead coming into the closing stages has never been a comfortable watch for Baggies fans this season.

It was a first away victory for Albion since 1st October and the first back-to-back league wins since the opening two fixtures of the season. The last time that a Baggies team won successive matches without conceding a goal was in September 2024 when they actually won three on the bounce 1-0 home wins over Swansea City and Plymouth Argyle either side of a 3-0 win away to Portsmouth.

With none of Albion’s relegation rivals winning, the result moves them into 20th place four points clear of the bottom three while Portsmouth’s 6-1 defeat means that they now have a worse goal difference than Mozza’s men while Blackburn Rovers are only in 19th by virtue of a single goal. Portsmouth do have a game in hand which they will play on 14th April at home to Ipswich Town.

Things are definitely looking far more promising than they were at the beginning of March, not just in terms of the league table, but the whole feeling around the club and the belief that seems to be growing within the squad. James Morrison has obviously made a huge impact, but that needs to be maintained as Albion are far from safe. This away win is a massive confidence boost given the Baggies’ record on the road this season, especially when their “easier” fixtures are away from home – at Blackburn, Preston and Sheffield Wednesday. Their home games, on the other hand, are all against teams fighting for the play-offs.

Only in 1991 and 2000 has an Albion side had fewer points from 39 games in a second tier season – on both those occasions, they had 39 points and went down with 48 in 1991 and stayed up with 49 in 2000. In 1994, Keith Burkinshaw’s team had 44 points after a goalless draw at Bristol City in game 39 – they would get just one point from the next four games and needed a 1-0 win at Fratton Park on the final day to secure survival.

Home Away Season End
Pld W D L F A Pts Posn* W D L F A Pts W D L F A Pts Posn Pts
1988/1989 39 16 16 7 56 33 64 3rd 12 5 2 36 13 41 4 11 5 20 20 23 9th 72
1989/1990 39 11 13 15 59 59 46 15th 6 7 7 34 31 25 5 6 8 25 28 21 20th 51
1990/1991 39 9 12 18 44 54 39 22nd 6 8 5 21 17 26 3 4 13 23 37 13 23rd 48
1993/1994 39 11 11 17 51 56 44 20th 8 7 5 34 24 31 3 4 12 17 32 13 21st 51
1994/1995 39 14 8 17 41 49 50 14th 11 2 6 25 20 35 3 6 11 16 29 15 19th 58
1995/1996 39 12 9 18 48 61 45 20th 8 5 7 27 26 29 4 4 11 21 35 16 11th 60
1996/1997 39 11 14 14 61 64 47 18th 5 7 8 33 30 22 6 7 6 28 34 25 16th 57
1997/1998 39 14 11 14 39 45 53 10th 8 6 6 21 21 30 6 5 8 18 24 23 10th 61
1998/1999 39 15 8 16 61 62 53 11th 11 2 6 38 25 35 4 6 10 23 37 18 12th 59
1999/2000 39 8 15 16 31 50 39 22nd 4 9 6 16 20 21 4 6 10 15 30 18 21st 49
2000/2001 39 19 8 12 52 46 65 5th 12 4 4 33 21 40 7 4 8 19 25 25 6th 74
2001/2002 39 21 7 11 48 26 70 3rd 12 3 4 26 8 39 9 4 7 22 18 31 2nd 89
2003/2004 39 22 10 7 58 34 76 2nd 12 5 3 31 14 41 10 5 4 27 20 35 2nd 86
2006/2007 39 18 10 11 66 46 64 6th 13 4 3 43 20 43 5 6 8 23 26 21 4th 76
2007/2008 39 19 9 11 78 51 66 4th 12 6 3 49 25 42 7 3 8 29 26 24 1st 81
2009/2010 39 23 9 7 77 42 78 2nd 14 2 4 42 20 44 9 7 3 35 22 34 2nd 91
2018/2019 39 20 10 9 75 50 70 4th 9 7 4 44 27 34 11 3 5 31 23 36 4th 80
2019/2020 39 19 14 6 64 38 71 1st 8 8 3 36 23 32 11 6 3 28 15 39 2nd 83
2021/2022 39 14 12 13 42 37 54 12th 9 7 2 24 12 34 5 5 11 18 25 20 10th 67
2022/2023 39 15 11 13 48 42 56 10th 10 6 4 26 15 36 5 5 9 22 27 20 9th 66
2023/2024 39 19 10 10 60 37 67 5th 13 3 3 31 14 42 6 7 7 29 23 25 5th 75
2024/2025 39 13 18 8 48 35 57 6th 9 8 2 25 12 35 4 10 6 23 23 22 9th 64
2025/2026 39 11 10 18 40 54 43 20th 7 7 5 23 23 28 4 3 13 17 31 15
* Positions are recorded as Albion’s position in the table after all fixtures for that day have been completed.

Results

1988/1989 04/04/1989 Stoke City (A) D 0-0
1989/1990 04/04/1990 West Ham United (H) L 1-3 Goodman
1990/1991 06/04/1991 Wolverhampton Wanderers (A) D 2-2 Goodman, Ford
1993/1994 02/04/1994 Bristol City (A) D 0-0
1994/1995 25/03/1995 Grimsby Town (A) W 2-0 Hunt, Donovan
1995/1996 02/04/1996 Luton Town (H) L 0-2
1996/1997 22/03/1997 Charlton Athletic (H) L 1-2 Hunt
1997/1998 21/03/1998 Port Vale (H) D 2-2 Flynn, Taylor
1998/1999 03/04/1999 Sunderland (A) L 0-3
1999/2000 25/03/2000 Manchester City (A) L 1-2 Hughes
2000/2001 25/03/2001 Tranmere Rovers (H) W 2-1 Taylor (2)
2001/2002 16/03/2002 Sheffield United (A) W 3-0 Dobie (2), McInnes
2003/2004 04/04/2004 Ipswich Town (A) W 3-2 Koumas, Dyer, Horsfield
2006/2007 18/03/2007 Birmingham City (H) D 1-1 McShane
2007/2008 29/03/2008 Colchester United (H) W 4-3 Phillips, Brunt, Bednár, Morrison
2009/2010 24/03/2010 Coventry City (H) W 1-0 Reid
2018/2019 29/03/2019 Birmingham City (H) W 3-2 Gayle, Rodriguez (pen), Livermore
2019/2020 26/06/2020 Brentford (A) L 0-1
2021/2022 03/04/2022 Birmingham City (A) L 0-1
2022/2023 07/04/2023 Rotherham United (A) L 1-3 Swift (pen)
2023/2024 29/03/2024 Millwall (A) D 1-1 Swift (pen)
2024/2025 29/03/2025 Norwich City (A) L 0-1
2025/2026 21/03/2026 Bristol City (A) W 1-0 Campbell

Next Matches

1988/1989 08/04/1989 Chelsea (H) L 2-3 Anderson, Ford
1989/1990 07/04/1990 Middlesbrough (H) D 0-0
1990/1991 10/04/1991 Hull City (H) D 1-1 Roberts
1993/1994 12/04/1994 Oxford United (A) D 1-1 Taylor
1994/1995 01/04/1995 Middlesbrough (H) L 1-3 Rees
1995/1996 06/04/1996 Millwall (H) W 1-0 Sneekes
1996/1997 28/03/1997 Barnsley (A) L 0-2
1997/1998 28/03/1998 Birmingham City (A) L 0-1
1998/1999 05/04/1999 Crewe Alexandra (H) L 1-5 Sneekes
1999/2000 04/04/2000 Ipswich Town (H) D 1-1 Hughes
2000/2001 31/03/2001 Watford (H) W 3-0 Quinn, Hughes, Clement
2001/2002 22/03/2002 Nottingham Forest (A) W 1-0 Taylor
2003/2004 10/04/2004 Gillingham (H) W 1-0 Hughes
2006/2007 31/03/2007 Queen’s Park Rangers (A) W 2-1 Phillips, Gera
2007/2008 01/04/2008 Cardiff City (A) D 0-0
2009/2010 27/03/2010 Reading (A) D 1-1 Tamas
2018/2019 06/04/2019 Millwall (A) L 0-2
2019/2020 01/07/2020 Sheffield Wednesday (A) W 3-0 Austin (pen), Pereira (2)
2021/2022 06/04/2022 AFC Bournemouth (H) W 2-0 Mowatt, Carroll
2022/2023 10/04/2023 Queen’s Park Rangers (H) D 2-2 Thomas-Asante, Ajayi
2023/2024 01/04/2024 Watford (H) D 2-2 Thomas-Asante, Furlong
2024/2025 05/04/2025 Sunderland (H) L 0-1
2025/2026 03/04/2026 Wrexham (H)

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