Thursday 18 December 2014 15:26, UK
West Brom manager Alan Irvine was ‘delighted’ for Craig Gardner after his second-half strike secured victory over Aston Villa at The Hawthorns.
The Baggies were desperate for a win over their Midlands rivals after losing four of their last five Premier League matches.
They were given a helping hand by an early red card to Kieran Richardson and eventually took advantage as Gardner – a former Villa player and Birmingham City fan - scored the only goal of the game in the 72nd minute.
“Craig has been desperate to score,” Irvine told Sky Sports. “He’s a fantastic lad, a great professional and the way he goes about his work every day is really commendable.
“I am delighted for him and delighted for everybody else. It was vitally important that we were patient but still tried to penetrate whenever we could and didn’t try things we didn’t normally do.”
West Brom struggled to make their numerical advantage count immediately as they created few chances of note in the first half.
But, helped by a tactical switch from Irvine, they moved the ball better after the break and started to stretch the Villa defence more.
“Paul (Lambert) changed his team's shape a couple of times, as a result it meant that things were different for us and our opportunities were different," explained Irvine. "With the way they went I felt it was vital that our two full-backs got forward
"I responded by making that change in order to get Andre (Wisdom) and Sebastien Pocognoli further forward.
“It’s not a foregone conclusion that you will be able to score against 10 men. Just a few weeks ago we went to Chelsea and were reduced to 10 men and they couldn’t score against us so I wasn’t taking it for granted that we would score.”
The win lifts West Brom up to 14th in the Premier League table and Irvine said he was pleased to give the fans an early Christmas present.
“The atmosphere was great, while I have not been involved in this derby before I knew what to expect,” he said. “Every derby is extremely important for the supporters of the club and thankfully ours are going home with a smile on their face.”
