West Bromwich Albion 2 Hull City 0

For nearly an hour, the wastefulness that put West Bromwich Albion into the Championship threatened to hamper the opening match of their bid to get out of it - but then John Hartson came along.

The Wales international, who joined Bryan Robson's merry band from Celtic in the summer, scored twice on his debut and turned in the sort of muscular performance that, a mere 90 minutes into his Albion career, had some supporters comparing him to the Hawthorns legend that is Cyrille Regis.

But then that's opening day, an occasion when the passionate masses are given to extrapolating the evidence of one game over the course of an entire season. A win means certain promotion, a defeat definite relegation.

The 20,000 and a few who assembled here would do well to remember such occasions can be deceptive. Reading lost their first fixture 12 months ago and went another 34, spanning five months, before being beaten again. As Hartson was at pains to point out afterwards, this was a start and no more.

But let's allow ourselves a little indulgence, the striker's display was, after all, worthy of praise because he gave such a convincing demonstration of the art of the target man.

Strong in the air, sure-footed on the ground and dangerous in front of goal, Hartson's recruitment has added considerable value to the toothless bunch that flopped out of the top flight three months ago.

His first goal, in the 57th minute, was a mouth-watering cocktail of robustness and opportunism as he latched on to Nigel Quashie's chip forward, rolled Damien Delaney off the ball and then lifted it over goalkeeper Boaz Myhill.

If that came at a time when Albion were under severe pressure, his second arrived when the hosts had every hand to the pump as Hull poured through every gap to find an equaliser.

Four minutes into added time, Nathan Ellington finally announced his presence when he won a free kick and quickly rolled it into the feet of the onrushing Quashie.

The midfielder looked to have dallied too long until Hartson appeared on his left shoulder to stroke a weighted pass home. The game was won, the points were safe and the Birmingham Road End had a new hero.

Even the manager was impressed enough to evoke memories of the club's greatest forwards: "I'm sure our fans are going to take to John," said Robson.

"He leads the line well and is a clever footballer; Harts has got a lot more ability than people give him credit for.

"At this club, we've had a tradition of great strikers like Jeff Astle and Cyrille Regis. Hopefully, the Albion fans will see another real good centre-forward in John."

Let's keep our fingers crossed on that score because it's been a while. Curiously Hartson's best came at a time when his team mates really needed him. Albion were utterly rampant for the first half hour during which time the 31-year-old was barely seen.

It was Zoltan Gera and Jonathan Greening who were to the fore during this stage as they ripped the visitors' defence asunder almost at will from the very first whistle.

In truth Hartson's heroics should not have been necessary as the midfielders created, and to be fair missed, five clear chances to open the scoring. The only man who didn't get in on the act was Ellington. Perhaps his time will come.

Greening had a first-minute shot blocked, 60 seconds later Gera headed the same player's cross straight at Myhill from point blank range and then Greening had another header tipped on to the post by the former Aston Villa man. On twelve minutes the Hungarian side-footed a simple volley well over the bar from ten yards and then just before the half was out Quashie side footed back at a melee of bodies with the goal at his mercy. It was all so familiar.

But this is not the Premiership and opponents don't punish profligacy quite as ruthlessly as Messrs Owen, Henry and Rooney.

After the interval Hull began to dominate and only Darryl Duffy will know how he fluffed a one-on-one with Zuberbuhler and managed to head over from inside the net.

Albion were living dangerously until Hartson stamped his authority on proceedings.

Robson was ambivalent about the match, pleased with his striker and the first third of the game but less so with what his team produced after the restart.

"We should have been able to control the game better than we did with the experience and class of player we've got," he said. "I feel we were a bit lazy at the start of the second half.

"The second goal was a little bit unjust for them but as far as we're concerned, considering the pressure was on because we were at home, we played some real good stuff and it's the result that matters.

Scorers: Hartson 57, 90 WEST BROMWICH ALBION (4-4-2): Zuberbuhler, Robinson, Perry, Davies, Watson, Greening (Albrechtsen 90), Quash-ie, Wallwork (Inamoto 87), Gera (Carter 78), Hartson, Ellington. Subs. Kuszczak, Chap-low.

HULL CITY (4-4-2): Myhill, Dawson, Delaney, Turner, Ricketts, Elliott (France 28), Welsh, Marney, Fagan, Parkin (Burgess 68), Duffy (Andrews 76). Subs: Duke, Thelwell. Referee: L Probert (Gloucestershire). Bookings: West Bromwich Albion - Greening; Hull - Marney, Welsh Attendance: 20,682 Albion man of the match: John Hartson - grew in stature as the game went on and became focal point of Albion's approach play.