Carlos has the last laugh as Warnock pays the penalty
WEST BROMWICH ALBION boss Carlos Corberan had the last laugh against his old club Huddersfield to silence Neil Warnock.
Before the game the veteran Terriers boss, 74, had claimed Corberan “must have a good agent” to have landed the West Brom gig.
John Swift’s penalty made it nine wins and a draw in 10 games for the Baggies and kept the Terriers – who head coach Corberan led to the Championship play-off final last season – languishing in the drop zone.
West Brom’s third win in four – all without conceding – put them three points outside the play-off zone.
They have also bettered a 100-year club record of conceding just once in 11 home games in all competitions.
Corberan refused to get involved in a slanging match with one of his successors however.
“Because of the way I was brought up, I’ve got massive respect for every opponent I play,” explained the Spaniard.
“I’m always very pleased when my team wins, especially when it’s as a consequence of the performance.”
Huddersfield have missed a ‘new manager bounce’ following Warnock’s return from retirement.
And the Terriers are now six points adrift of safety after one win in five under Warnock.
Ironically, Huddersfield had arguably the best two chances of this feisty fixture.
But Tom Lees headed Josh Koroma’s corner over the bar and clean-through David Kasumu fired wide with only goalkeeper Josh Griffiths to beat.
But in between, the Baggies dominated. Longrange efforts from Erik Pieters and Okay Yokuslu failed to seriously test goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik while Daryl Dike missed the ball after Pieters put him through.
West Brom’s persistence paid off when they netted the crucial penalty on the half hour.
Conor Townsend anticipated Matty Pearson’s clumsy challenge tussling for Jed Wallace’s pass and referee Dean Whitestone pointed to the spot.
Swift made no mistake, drilling the ball hard to Vaclik’s right, sending the keeper the wrong way.
Warnock complained: “We missed two great chances today with Tom’s header – then when David was through on goal as well. At the moment, we’ve got no chance of staying up because we haven’t scored for four games.”