City shock Baggies in Championship battle

Carlos Corberan bemoaned West Brom’s lack of composure inside the final third following the 2-0 Sky Bet Championship defeat at Hull.

The Baggies have now lost their last four league games on the road following Benjamin Tetteh’s super strike after 33 minutes and Dara O’Shea’s second-half own goal.

Corberan said: “I know that this is happening away from home and everyone is asking the same question.

“The few opportunities they had, they took their chances. What’s the difference? I can’t understand.

“We had 70 per cent of possession of the ball but we are creating and not scoring – that is the key.

“We missed a big opportunity for three points.

“For everything that we created, we couldn’t score. The few things they created, they scored.

“We were very, very dominant but after the first goal we lost confidence.

“That made things more difficult. What was key was what was happening in both boxes.”

West Brom supporters must have fancied their chances following their side’s dominant start to the game.

But they found Hull goalkeeper Karl Darlow – on loan from Newcastle – in good form and could not have done much about Tetteh’s opening goal.

The Ghana international struck on instinct from a difficult angle towards the left of the penalty area and skilfully guided the ball into the top right-hand corner of the net.

Tetteh’s goal changed the game.

West Brom were a mile off the pace after the break and conceded a second when Sean McLoughlin’s header off Ozan Tufan’s wicked corner was deflected into his own net by O’Shea after 57 minutes.

John Swift hit a post later on for the visitors with a central free-kick, but that was as good as it got for the visitors.

Corberan said: “This was a big opportunity for three points but we still want to achieve the highest possible position in the table.

“At the end of the season, we’ll see where we are.

“If we analyse the previous defeats away, this was different as we created lots of chances – it was not an easy situation.

“I think in the first 30 minutes in attack was one of the best (since he became manager) and yet we have lost 2-0.

“We now need to move on.”

Counterpart Liam Rosenior praised his players’ brave first-half display after Hull ended a four-game run without victory.

He said: “West Brom showed what a good team they are in the first half-hour. We had to change tactics. We played higher and got in their faces and Benji scored a cracker.

“I think West Brom and Burnley are the two best teams in the league, so for our lads to stick with the plan, it feels good.

“I think we showed some real moments of quality and it’s another clean sheet. We had to work hard and do the extra yards and they got their just rewards.

“They started really well and we had to be really well organised and disciplined.

“I thought in the second half we were much more compact and I couldn’t have been prouder of the players.”

Rosenior added: “In the second half, I thought we were magnificent. The first goal was massive. Benji does that in training all the time and hopefully he can now score many more.

“For the players to put in that shift, I couldn’t be happier with them.

“Everything we are now putting in on the training ground is now coming through on games.

“Everyone has to be engaged and everyone has to know their job. They just need to keep plugging away and keep working very hard.”

Published: 03/03/2023 by Radio NewsHub