Thoughts from above...Fulham

Observations from Saturday's game.

* Interesting to see ex-FA chief executive Brian Barwick and Premier League CEO Richard Scudamore at The Hawthorns. The latter almost caused a diplomatic incident by parking himself in chairman Jeremy Peace's seat before the game only for peace (pun intended) to be restored fairly quickly with a swift round of Musical Chairs. As for Barwick, he still has the look of a man who might have played a Labour MP, alongside Tory Alan B'Stard, in the legendary 1980s' ITV show The New Statesman. All he needs is a bit more tweed in the suit and some elbow patches.

* Roman Bednar still sounds like a Bond villain. And who's going to argue with a man who admits that he enjoys nothing less than a bit of pre-match banter on away trips. Describing one such incident, he said: "We took the swipe cards from the hotel reception, burst into the rooms and splashed water over each other. Robbo and Jono jumped so far into the air." Footballers eh?

* Never underestimate the power of the press. A colleague was asked to hand over his stop watch after fourth official Peter Walton found himself without a working watch. Given that the fellow scribe is part of the West Midlands' contingent, it could also explain why only two minutes were added onto the end of the second-half, despite five subs being brought on - 30 seconds are supposed to be added for each change. All good and well, although the journalist was rather miffed to find that the official was washed, dressed and heading back to his Northamptonshire home having completely forgotten to hand back the stop watch.

* Full marks to Fulham No1 Mark Schwarzer for checking on the health of an Albion fan who got struck by the ball as the two teams carried out their warm-ups. And before you ask, no, it wasn't Pascal Zuberbuhler's mis-kick. It was a Fulham coach, who was putting their two keepers through their paces, who sliced the ball into an unsuspecting fan in the Smethwick End.

* Paul Robinson may be Albion's hard man but he's clearly mellowing. How else could you explain the full-blown kiss on the lips he gave to former team-mate Zoltan Gera as the two teams exchanged their pre-match handshake procession.