Hodgson praises resolute West Brom

West Brom boss Roy Hodgson was left delighted with his side’s 3-2 win over Newcastle at Sports Direct Arena on Wednesday.

West Brom twice lost the lead in the English Premier League encounter through Demba Ba goals, after firstly Peter Odemwingie and then Gareth McAuley put them ahead.

But they finally went ahead for good after 85 minutes through Paul Scharner’s toe-poked goal, and Hodgson was thrilled with the effort of his side to respond when challenged.

“All credit to the players to come back and get a third goal,” Hodgson said.

“To play those last 15 minutes or so the way we did was a good achievement.”

“Many a team would have capitulated at 2-2, and you could have ended up going home with nothing rather than all three.”

“I’m very pleased with the general performance and, of course, delighted with two back-to-back away wins at notorious difficult places like Ewood Park and St James’ Park.”

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew, meanwhile, blamed his side’s lack of discipline for the defeat.

“I thought that was evident tonight,” Pardew said.

“I thought the crowd were a little bit desperate for it, we were a little bit desperate for it. But you can’t win Premier League matches unless you are disciplined and controlled.”

“At points in the game tonight, we wasn’t. Having said that, you couldn’t fault the commitment of the team.”

“They were doing everything to try and retrieve the situation. We threw attack after attack, and some decent ones at that, Demba went close.”

“(Haris) Vuckic produced a great save from the goalie, it could have been very, very different if we had got our noses in front and got our discipline back a little bit earlier.”