Valerien Ismael hails West Brom mentality

Semi Ajayi’s goal in the fourth minute of added-on time saw the Baggies to a 1-0 win at London Road.

That strike prompted wild scenes with Ismael running the best part of 50-yards to celebrate with his players in front of the travelling fans.

Overall, the game at London Road was far from a thriller with both teams impressing with their energy and application but struggling to create clear-cut chances.

In the end, though, Albion hauled themselves over the line to make it four straight wins in the Championship.

“It was a difficult game but it’s been a difficult week,” Ismael said.

“We have had a lot of injuries - we’ve had all the injuries in one block.

“We’ve had a couple of Covid cases - in one block.

“We needed to manage the preparation for this game. We needed to stay focused on the purpose why we came here.

“We knew it would be a tough game, a difficult game.

“And at the end we scored, we showed a desire, the mentality you need.

“You will get some games like that throughout the season.

“You can’t always dominate the opponent and score three or four goals. That is clear.

“But it’s important to stay strong and show the right mentality.

“And we had that mentality to win the duels, to win the second balls, to stay strong together and to believe that we could score at any time.”

Ismael was involved in a spat with Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson following the full-time whistle.

The Posh manager believed Ismael had stuck two fingers up at him.

But Ismael said afterwards he was actually saying to the fourth official his side should have had two penalties - with Frenchman not realising what the gesture stands for in England.

“I think he misunderstood what happened and it has been explained to me what happened,” the 45-year-old continued.

“I went to the fourth official and said normally we have two penalties, we need to have two penalties.

“The second one was a clear penalty and I think he misunderstood my gesture.

“He explained to me in England it means something different.

“That was not the purpose, I talked with the fourth official and he took the gesture for him - it wasn’t disrespectful I was just talking with the fourth referee. I think it was a misunderstanding.”

In his post-match interview, Ferguson made it clear he was not impressed with the gesture and Ismael’s celebration for Albion’s goal.

“(The perceived gesture) was disrespectful,” he said.

“Not to shake another man’s hand to start, regardless of how the game is going, regardless of the emotions of the football match.

“He’s managing a big, big club like West Brom, and I thought he was disrespectful and out of order.

“He needs to calm down. He’s only got playoffs once, with Barnsley. He’s not the god of football all of a sudden, he needs to calm down.”