Carlos Corberan praises West Brom character after blasting back to beat Luton

Posted Sunday, January 15, 2023 by PA

West Bromwich Albion head coach Carlos Corberan praised his side’s never-say-die attitude after they hit back from two down to win 3-2 at Luton.

Having trailed to early goals from Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo, the Baggies pulled one back just before the break, with Daryl Dike on target.

Quickfire goals midway through the second period from Jayson Molumby and Conor Townsend meant the Baggies made it nine wins from 10 in the league.

Corberan said: “I am very pleased for the players because they put in an unbelievable effort.

“They showed resilience in their mentality and I am very pleased to see that all of their effort in the game got us the three points.

“It’s not easy to do what they did today. I am so pleased for them.

“The contributions of many players all over the pitch was very high. They were very aggressive. I did not see one player that was not competing in the level that the game was demanding.

“We did not give up at any moment. We kept on believing and the players kept on insisting on doing the things that have brought us success over the last few weeks and months.

“It was really difficult because we conceded two goals in 10 minutes without really suffering in defence. At the same time, we were creating chances to score ourselves, something which we couldn’t do in the first 30 minutes.

“We continued to show our identity in our organisation and the way we like to play. We didn’t get frustrated. We kept on doing the correct things.

“The players kept believing in themselves and that was necessary to get a positive result.”

Luton were in dreamland early on when Morris struck from 30 yards with seven minutes gone, while Adebayo thumped home a header just three minutes later.

The Baggies were always in the contest though, Dike heading against the bar, before the USA international halved the deficit on 39 minutes, nipping in ahead of Town stopper Ethan Horvath to score.

Luton looked like they had weathered the storm after the break, only for Molumby to hammer home on 65 minutes when Horvath dropped a cross.

Townsend was then left unmarked to slam into the net two minutes later from Matt Phillips’ cross.

Hatters boss Rob Edwards said: “I’m bitterly disappointed to lose the game. I’ll start with credit where credit’s due, West Brom are a really good team, and well done to them.

“I was delighted with our start. To go 2-0 up was well deserved and exactly how we want to try and be, aggressive and on the front foot.

“They still retained that threat, they probably shifted their mindset a little bit now into ‘we’ve got to up this,’ and they just made the shape of their team when they had the ball, it was difficult for us to press at times.

“We had to try and change it a little bit in that first half which we did and then we were okay, but ultimately it was the manner of the goals, it was the way we conceded the goals, that’s the disappointing thing.

“Yes they created chances, but the goals we conceded were from our mistakes and that’s what we’ve been really good at.”