Carlos pays tribute to club doctor

CARLOS Corberan dedicated Albion’s stirring come-frombehind victory on Monday night to club doctor Julian Widdowson, who passed away suddenly over the weekend.

Tom Rogic and Daryl Dike, the latter a player who would’ve worked closely with Widdowson amid his injury woes since the beginning of 2022, scored their first goals for the Baggies to reverse the game after Amad Diallo had handed the Mackems a deserved early lead.

In doing so, the pair secured the Baggies’ fourth win on the spin, in what was their first outing after their World Cup break and heartened Corberan, whose inspired and bold substitutions eventually paid dividends.

“I would like to dedicate this win to the club doctor, who passed away at the weekend - it’s our way of being able to give something in dedication of him,” Corberan (pictured) said.

“Of course there are things in games you must recognise need to change, the impact of the bench today was fantastic. You need that to win football games - not only us, any team in the world.

“If the players you put in can adapt quickly to the game, they can impact it. All of the players we have are at a similar level, so you know that any player we put into the game can impact it.”

Albion supporters have had to wait a while to see what a fully fit and firing Rogic might bring to this team.

They’ve had to wait even longer for Dike, who has endured a pretty miserable first 12 months at the club - but this cameo offers plenty of optimism as to what might wait for the US striker in the New Year.

“I think the performance of Rogic, maybe in the last two games before the break, and during the period of training, has been excellent,” Corberan assessed. “His performances have been excellent, and after training and working hard he can perform better in the football pitch.

“Dike is a little bit different because we need to manage very well his minutes in training and his minutes in the game. We need to help him to perform but also to stay fit so he can help the team.”