Platt praises second-half display

Manchester City assistant manager David Platt has hailed his side’s desire to win after they came from behind to beat West Bromwich Albion.

City had James Milner dismissed for a professional foul in the first half and found themselves a goal down when Shane Long struck in the 67th minute.

But the champions remained undeterred at the Hawthorns, with substitute Edin Dzeko snatching victory from the jaws of defeat with two late goals.

Milner was sent off in the 23rd minute for a mistimed tackle on Long, who had capitalised on a Vincent Kompany mistake and had a clear run on goal.

“It didn’t look like a goal-scoring opportunity to me, but equally you can see why it was given,” Platt said.

“There wasn’t a great deal that we could do about it after 20 minutes. We can’t sit there for 70 minutes grumbling about a decision.

“I thought for the rest of the first half we were a bit affected by it to a certain extent. Nobody was really controlling the game.

“We went in at half-time and said we need to keep our heads, keep disciplined, keep our concentration and stay together.

“I thought in the second half we were terrific. We more or less controlled the football match.

“We expected that we would have to defend one or two situations but if you look at the stats in terms of efforts on goal and possession, you wouldn’t have thought that we had a man less.”

City remain one of two unbeaten teams in the English Premier League with five wins and three draws, four points behind leaders Chelsea, who have seven wins and one draw.