Pardew wants West Brom to learn to ‘win ugly’ after defeat against Huddersfield

A frustrated Alan Pardew bemoaned West Bromwich Albion’s 2-1 home loss to fellow relegation strugglers Huddersfield Town yesterday, which has increased the pressure on him.

Goals from Rajiv van la Parra and Steve Mounie gave Huddersfield the lead at the Hawthorns and though Craig Dawson pulled one back it was not enough to prevent Pardew’s side from slipping to a defeat that leaves them seven points adrift of safety with only 10 games of the season remaining.

“I was disappointed with the performance. We worked hard this week and looked good going into the game but it wasn’t reflected in the game,” Pardew, who was appointed in October after West Brom had dismissed Tony Pulis, told the BBC.

“We have two or three flair players missing but we should have had enough to beat Huddersfield really.”

West Brom have won only one of their past 14 games and Pardew added: “I think it is three wins in 37 games. It is a problem, we just have to find a way to win a game, however it and however ugly it is. “It was certainly ugly today.”

The result moves Huddersfield out of the relegation zone.

“It was a deserved result and we had the best opportunities,” Huddersfield manager David Wagner said.

“We got a little bit lucky in the first half when West Brom had a good opportunity at the end. But I am delighted and proud of the players. They have shown their momentum. It is a great win for us.”

Dropping into the bottom three as Huddersfield climb up the table is Swansea City, whose recent run of good form came to an abrupt end as they were beaten 4-1 at Brighton & Hove Albion.

Glenn Murray scored twice, the second a penalty, and Anthony Knockeart and Jurgen Locadia were also on target for Brighton, with an own goal from Lewis Dunk accounting for Swansea’s consolation effort.

“It was a game where we made some mistakes that usually we have not been making,” Swansea manager Carlos Carvalhal said. “The story is we tried to turn it around by putting more players into attack in the second half because we were losing and we wanted to win three points.”

An own goal from goalkeeper Jack Butland denied Stoke City the chance of moving out of the bottom three as they remain second bottom.

He deflected a cross from Marc Albrighton into his own net with 20 minutes to go to gift Leicester the equaliser in a 1-1 draw after Xherdan Shaqiri had given them the lead in the first half.

Newcastle United missed out on the chance to give themselves some breathing space away from the bottom three as they were held to a 2-2 draw at Bournemouth.

Two goals in the first half from Dwight Gayle had put them on course for the three points, but Bournemouth hit back with two goals in the final 10 minutes from substitute Adam Smith and Dan Gosling to earn the home side a share of the spoils.

Southampton came from behind to earn a point at Burnley in a 1-1 draw thanks to Manolo Gabbiadini’s stoppage-time equaliser.

Ashley Barnes had given Burnley the lead and Sean Dyche’s side had looked set for their first win since December 12 before Gabbiadini struck to keep the Saints outside the bottom three.

“It’s one point, obviously we play another important game next,” Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino said. “But the draw is almost the same as a win today.”