Rapid-fire Dike double repays faith of Corberan
TWO GOOD:
CARLOS CORBERAN praised the way Daryl Dike led from the front as the West Brom striker’s quickfire double saw off in-form Middlesbrough.
The American had scored just three goals since joining Albion last January but marked his return to the starting line-up with two clinical finishes in the opening 10 minutes.
Boro never recovered and rarely threatened as their defeat saw the gap to second-place Sheffield United grow to seven points.
And Albion boss Corberan was thrilled with his side’s display as they bounced back from Monday’s 3-2 defeat at Watford to claim their first win in four matches.
He said: “The key in football, and in life, is to learn from mistakes. It’s important to react and the team performed very well.”
On Dike’s display, Corberan added: “It’s always important to increase his confidence with goals.
“But he had a high responsibility to defend well too and I’m very pleased about how he did both parts.”
Dike was preferred to Brandon Thomasasante up front and within 10 minutes he had repaid his manager’s faith.
The 22-year-old finished off a neat move to open the scoring, tapping home Jed Wallace’s cross in the eighth minute.
Before the visitors could regroup, Albion made it 2-0. This time John Swift played Dike through on goal and the striker hit it low from the edge of the box. Zack Steffen failed to hold the shot and the forward followed in to finish at the second attempt.
It was not the only way Dike left his mark on Boro, with the striker’s arm catching Paddy Mcnair in the face as he rolled the centre-back to fashion a chance.
The former Manchester United defender was treated for several minutes and needed oxygen as he was taken off on a stretcher.
Boro boss Michael Carrick said: “His face was in a bad way when he came off.
“We took the precautions and used the concussion substitute, because it was a possibility but I can’t give a definite answer on whether he was concussed or not.”