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Wanderers got their 2018/19 season off to a superb start with victory at West Bromwich Albion in Saturday afternoon.
And the gaffer Phil Parkinson spoke to bwfc.co.uk after the game and discussed the following points.
On today's win...
We’re absolutely delighted. We knew it was going to be a tough test today with the talent that West Brom have got and people didn’t really give us much chance.
We secretly believed that if we played our best and backed up the Peterborough win last week, then we’d have an opportunity today to get something out of the game.
All round I thought it was a very disciplined and hard-working performance and everyone did their job for the team, including the three subs who I thought gave us a real lift when we needed it the most.
In the first half we had other chances to score and then the goal before half-time was a wonder strike from Harvey Barnes. Sometimes you concede goals and you look at what you could have done, but it was an incredible goal.
We just said to the lads at half-time it would be criminal if we let that goal lift them and knock us. To be fair to the lads, they lifted themselves, and pushed right to the end to get the winner.
On Luke Murphy's performance...
Today has given everyone a lot of confidence and we’ve got a lot of new players in. Luke Murphy was magnificent today.
He was training with the Under-23s at Leeds so hasn’t had an ideal pre-season and has had very little game time. We decided to give him 60 minutes and Gary O’Neil 30 minutes. That was a big ask of him, but he’s done really well for us.
On taking confidence forward...
The lads are on a high in the dressing room, but if we’d have been beaten today, then we’d be saying that it’s just the first game.
So, we’re not going to get too jubilant about it because it is only one win, however the confidence that today's win has given us we can take into the next couple of games.
On individual jobs being done...
I think we deserved at least a point with the balance of the game, but to get all three is obviously a bonus. Yanic (Wildschut) listened to his job and got in front of the keeper to score the goal.
Those details are so important and it was the difference between getting the one point and the three points. I thought some of the football in the midfield, with the calmness of Lowey (Jason Lowe), Vels (Josh Vela) and Murph (Luke Murphy) and obviously Gary (O’Neil) when he came on, was good to see.
In the hurly-burly nature of a Championship game, we needed cool heads and I thought we had that today.
On Josh Magennis' impact...
Josh (Magennis) worked his socks off today. Our supporters love a goal scorer, like every supporter does and they saw a very honest, committed performance today.
That’s why we brought him to the club. He gave us everything and that’s what he’s all about. We’ve enjoyed having him in the building for the last couple of weeks.
On the defensive unit...
All across the back four, you couldn’t really fault them. Wheats (David Wheater) has come back in the best shape he’s been in for a very long time.
I think you saw that today. Pav (Pawel Olkowski), Beeves (Mark Beevers) and Tayls (Andrew Taylor) also all worked well as a unit. What a big game for Pav to make his debut in England in and I thought he handled it well.
He’s played in front of big crowds in the Bundesliga in high pressure games and he coped with it well today.
And finally, on the away support...
The supporters were brilliant today. I’m so pleased for them as well driving back up the M6 they must be on a high.
The support was brilliant and they got right behind the lads. To see that end full with every ticket sold was fantastic.
I can’t wait for the home fixture now, with as many people as possible inside the stadium next Saturday, we'll be looking to build on this performance.
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And the gaffer Phil Parkinson spoke to bwfc.co.uk after the game and discussed the following points.
On today's win...
We’re absolutely delighted. We knew it was going to be a tough test today with the talent that West Brom have got and people didn’t really give us much chance.
We secretly believed that if we played our best and backed up the Peterborough win last week, then we’d have an opportunity today to get something out of the game.
All round I thought it was a very disciplined and hard-working performance and everyone did their job for the team, including the three subs who I thought gave us a real lift when we needed it the most.
In the first half we had other chances to score and then the goal before half-time was a wonder strike from Harvey Barnes. Sometimes you concede goals and you look at what you could have done, but it was an incredible goal.
We just said to the lads at half-time it would be criminal if we let that goal lift them and knock us. To be fair to the lads, they lifted themselves, and pushed right to the end to get the winner.
On Luke Murphy's performance...
Today has given everyone a lot of confidence and we’ve got a lot of new players in. Luke Murphy was magnificent today.
He was training with the Under-23s at Leeds so hasn’t had an ideal pre-season and has had very little game time. We decided to give him 60 minutes and Gary O’Neil 30 minutes. That was a big ask of him, but he’s done really well for us.
On taking confidence forward...
The lads are on a high in the dressing room, but if we’d have been beaten today, then we’d be saying that it’s just the first game.
So, we’re not going to get too jubilant about it because it is only one win, however the confidence that today's win has given us we can take into the next couple of games.
On individual jobs being done...
I think we deserved at least a point with the balance of the game, but to get all three is obviously a bonus. Yanic (Wildschut) listened to his job and got in front of the keeper to score the goal.
Those details are so important and it was the difference between getting the one point and the three points. I thought some of the football in the midfield, with the calmness of Lowey (Jason Lowe), Vels (Josh Vela) and Murph (Luke Murphy) and obviously Gary (O’Neil) when he came on, was good to see.
In the hurly-burly nature of a Championship game, we needed cool heads and I thought we had that today.
On Josh Magennis' impact...
Josh (Magennis) worked his socks off today. Our supporters love a goal scorer, like every supporter does and they saw a very honest, committed performance today.
That’s why we brought him to the club. He gave us everything and that’s what he’s all about. We’ve enjoyed having him in the building for the last couple of weeks.
On the defensive unit...
All across the back four, you couldn’t really fault them. Wheats (David Wheater) has come back in the best shape he’s been in for a very long time.
I think you saw that today. Pav (Pawel Olkowski), Beeves (Mark Beevers) and Tayls (Andrew Taylor) also all worked well as a unit. What a big game for Pav to make his debut in England in and I thought he handled it well.
He’s played in front of big crowds in the Bundesliga in high pressure games and he coped with it well today.
And finally, on the away support...
The supporters were brilliant today. I’m so pleased for them as well driving back up the M6 they must be on a high.
The support was brilliant and they got right behind the lads. To see that end full with every ticket sold was fantastic.
I can’t wait for the home fixture now, with as many people as possible inside the stadium next Saturday, we'll be looking to build on this performance.
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