Slaven Bilic believes West Brom got out of jail in draw at Wigan
Posted Thursday, December 12, 2019 by PA
West Brom boss Slaven Bilic admitted his side got out of jail with a point after being second best all night in the 1-1 draw at Wigan.
The Baggies missed the chance to return to the top of the Sky Bet Championship at the DW Stadium.
But Bilic was the first to concede it was the struggling home side – who remain in the bottom three – who will feel short-changed.
After Jamal Lowe was denied by Baggies goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, Wigan took the lead five minutes into the second half.
Skipper Sam Morsy’s 30-yard shot was tipped on to the post by Johnstone, who was powerless to prevent the ball then hitting him on the back and over the line.
Michael Jacobs hit the bar as Wigan tried to hammer home their superiority, but they were pegged back by a goal straight out of the ‘bloopers’ catalogue on the hour mark.
Wigan goalkeeper Jamie Jones temporarily turned his back on the action to take a drink in his goal, and turned to see Antonee Robinson’s backpass rolling towards him.
Jones picked the ball up and was immediately penalised, with Jake Livermore touching the free-kick to Charlie Austin, who slammed home from six yards.
It was Wigan who looked the likelier to win it late on, with Gavin Massey’s header being well saved by Johnstone.
And Bilic was delighted to leave with honours even.
“We have to be honest enough to admit we weren’t as good tonight as we’ve been so far,” he said.
“And by the way, we have to give great credit to Wigan for the way they played.
“We started slowly, and we have to admit we didn’t deserve anything more than a point.
“I said to the guys at the end of course we are disappointed, we are all gutted.
“But we have to take this as a blessing, because we know we can’t be like this again.
“We didn’t get big-time punished, so we have to take the point as a good one.
“They had a few chances, they hit the bar, our goalkeeper made a couple of great saves.
“But in none of our games so far have we had so few shots on goal.
“They had 14 shots, we had only six.
“That has never happened to us so far.
“It doesn’t matter how well you’re doing, if you don’t start well – as well as you finished the last game.
“All credit to the Wigan boys, this is a good point in a difficult place to come.”
Wigan boss Paul Cook was naturally disappointed to only come away with a point, but was keen to accentuate the positives.
“It’s a massive, massive step forwards for us,” he said.
“In the situation we’re in – irrespective of the goal we conceded – I think the level of performance was there from us for everyone to see.
“And that’s the most pleasing thing for me as a manager.
“At the same time, you have to be disappointed it’s not all three points.
“We’re on about a West Brom team that’s outstanding…they’ve lost one in 20, they score a lot of goals and don’t concede many.
“But tonight, Jamie Jones has caught one header, and I don’t think they’ve had another effort (apart from the goal).
“That’s great credit to our team play, our work ethic and our desire.
“We’ve hit the bar, Jamal Lowe’s forced a fantastic save from the goalkeeper, we had another chance late on.
“So on reflection of the game, it would have been fair for us to win.
“But we respect the point, it’s a point, and we move on.”
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