Carlos Corberan on West Brom's best moments against Bristol City and why it was not "comfortable"
Satisfied boss Carlos Corberan felt Albion profited from a clinical period either side of half-time in their 2-0 success over Bristol City.
Tom Fellows and Jed Wallace netted just before and after the interval to turn a quiet first half at The Hawthorns into what became a routine victory in the top-six race.
The Baggies might have extended their lead – Corberan made the point only a three-goal advance can be deemed comfortable – before the mid-table Robins did show signs of pulling themselves back into the contest late on.
Albion were not truly stretched, though, and first back-to-back league wins of 2024 and just a second clean sheet in seven were welcome heading into the final international break of the season, with just eight games of the regular season remaining.
"I think that we should have scored the third one, if we were to say it was comfortable. In these types of games, a goal in the last moments can change the feeling," Corberan said.
"We needed to be constant more than patient, to insist on the things that we needed to do. When the opponent is defending and being well organised, you need to disorganise them to create the chance.
"When you start to do that, positive things can happen – but so can mistakes that give opportunities to them. In general we managed some moments in attack well, in some moments no. The same in defence. There are things that need to do better to be more dominant in the game."
The victory saw the Baggies extend an eight-point gap over seventh-placed Hull – who were without action today and thus have a game in hand – with belief of a play-off place in full flow.
Corberan noted a positive 20 minutes or so from his side either side of the interval but is focused on extending that.
The head coach added: "I think it was probably the team's best minutes, the last five minutes of the first half and the first 15 or 20 of the second half.
"My target is to extend these minutes, to start the good minutes earlier and finish the good minutes later.
"It's true, after the second goal we scored, we had possibilities in the transition to make something else and we didn't use them well enough."
The Spaniard warned, as Albion found out in their previous home clash against Coventry, things can become nervy if the opponents are allowed to strike back late on.
"Sometimes you concede a set-piece goal or something, they are a team with enough quality in the last third, with the players they put from the bench, they are players that can do something individually," he said.
"It was very important to keep the clean sheet today because when you think you are close to winning, if you concede one goal, it can change the momentum for your team and the other team. The key to a comfortable win was to not concede a goal."
