EVEN the most optimistic of Baggies feared the worst when promoted West Brom lost their first two matches in the Premier League, but Tony Mowbray stuck to his constructive principles and his team have passed and played their way up to seventh in the table, with three wins in their last four.

Fulham, on the other hand, are starting as badly as they did last season and, after four successive defeats in league and cup, they may need another Great Escape if they are to stay up. Albion, who beat Middlesbrough at the Riverside last week, deservedly won again with a 61st minute goal from Roman Bednar, their striker from the Czech Republic, who also scored at Everton and West Ham, and who was desperately close to getting a second yesterday when he shivered the crossbar late on. With ten points from their last five matches, Mowbray’s charges have recovered well from that ominous start, when they lost three on the trot, including an embarrassing 3-1 Carling Cup defeat against Hartlepool. They will resume after the internatinal break, away to Manchester United, in good heart.

The same cannot be said of Fulham, whose next match is against Sunderland, who gave Arsenal such a fright yesterday.

Fulham’s manager, Roy Hodgson, saw nothing to criticise in their performance here, but their supporters will be travelling in decreasing numbers if their away form does not pick up soon.

Before this, they lost at Burnley in the Carling Cup. Mundane for long periods, this often resembled a good Championship match, which of course it could be next season. In fairness, that is harsh on West Brom, who habitually play a constructive, passing game and therefore are not out of place at elite level.

Fulham will always do the same under Hodgson’s enlightened management, but the signs are not encouraging. They have a lightweight look about them and there was evidence of fractured morale near the end, when Jimmy Bullard and Danny Murphy had a heated argument on the pitch. Murphy was substituted a couple of minutes later. In mitigation, Fulham clearly missed the pace and all-round ability of Andy Johnson, their £10m striker, who was suspended after his red card in the West Ham match.

His replacement Clint Dempsey, worked hard, but does not carry the same scoring threat, and his partner, Bobby Zamora, had been ill for 48 hours before playing. Both sides went about their work in the knowledge that these are the sort of games they need to win if they are to survive at this level. In a first half which ebbed and flowed nicely, without taking off, Bednar should have scored early but, played in through the middle by Jonathan Greening, he took an eternity over his shot and then fired straight at Mark Schwarzer. For Fulham, Zoltan Gera was similarly cuplable, playing against his old club, when he sidefooted wide, from left to right, and Dempsey twice lacked the accuracy to trouble Scott Carson. The second half was played at a higher tempo and was better as a consequence.

Greening’s cross from the left was headed against the far post by Ryan Donk, West Brom’s Dutch centre-half, Bednar blasted wastefully over after determined approach work by Paul Robinson, who bustled past John Pantsil, and the decisive incident followed Murphy’ goalline clearance of a James Morrison header. From a corner taken by Greening, Donk’s shot from the edge of the six-yard box was diverted to Bednar, who stabbed the ball in from three yards. Fulham threatened with a shot from Murphy which was deflected wide, and the persistent Dempsey should have equalised after 70 minutes when, from an unmarked position, he headed Bullard’s cross over the bar.

It was West Brom and Bednar, however, who had the last word when the Czech hit the top of the crossbar from 30 yards. Mowbray, whose attitude is as admirable as his team’s football, said: “Our long term aspirations are not just to stay in the division, they never have been. I’ve said from the start it’s not just about survival or us. We’ll try to entertain our fans and win football matches, then see where it gets us. Our next job is to go to Old Trafford and put on a performance there. Doing that is why we fought so hard to get promoted.”

WEST BROM: Carson 6, Zuiverloon 6, Donk 6, Olsson 6, Robinson 6, Morrison 6 (Cech 79min), Koren 6, Greening 7, Borja Valero 6, Miller 5 (Moore 65min), Bednar 7

FULHAM: Schwarzer 6, Pantsil 6 (Stoor 82min), Hughes 7, Hangeland 6, Konchesky 6, Davies 6, Bullard 6, Murphy 6 (Andreasen 87min), Gera 6, Zamora 5 (Ki-Hyeon 71min), Dempsey 6