Corberan hails impact of substitutes in Wes Brom win

Carlos Corberan was delighted with the impact of his second-half substitutes as they came off the bench to inspire West Brom to a 2-1 win at Sunderland.

Tom Rogic and Daryl Dike were introduced midway through the second half at the Stadium of Light, with the Baggies trailing to Amad Diallo’s first-half penalty.

Rogic levelled when he fired home from the edge of the 18-yard box in the 70th minute and Dike settled the contest with seven minutes left when he powered home a header from Jed Wallace’s right-wing cross.

Corberan said: “The beginning of the game was very difficult. Sunderland scored the goal and were better than us in every aspect of the game. They were winning a lot of challenges and I was worried about the tempo of the game.

“We started to manage the game better in the second half and the team played with a lot of character. The mentality of the players was exceptional and they were able to deal with the difficulty. They showed a lot of resilience and they never give up.

“We need to see when things need to change and the response of the substitutes was fantastic. That is what you need to win a game. When you bring players on, they can impact the game. We have a good squad and, when we bring players on from the bench, they have to have that kind of impact.”

Dike was playing in just his third match of the season after suffering a thigh injury following the opening game of the campaign and Corberan is delighted to see the American back in full training and fighting for a place in the starting XI.

He said: “He is training normally with the group and, now he is having the game time, that is going to help him.

“Of course, every striker wants to score and he will have confidence now he has got that goal. But, for me, the fact he is training fully with the rest of the group is the most important thing for him.”

Sunderland would have moved to within a place of the play-off positions with a win, but, while the Black Cats were the better side in the opening stages as Amad claimed his fifth goal in the last seven matches from the spot, they spent the vast majority of the second half on the back foot.

Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray said: “I think we have to address the scenario where we feel as if we have to protect something because we don’t help ourselves.

“We sat too deep and invited pressure. This team at this stadium need to play on the front foot and yet it’s a human thing really to protect what you’ve got sometimes.

“It’s a frustrating night for us because against good teams and good players you’re giving them too much time on the ball and they’ll pick the right pass more often that not and that’s what they did tonight.

“They have some very good players for this league and ultimately it’s frustrating for us. They found a way and their quality found a way to push us back.

“You could feel they were pushing us back a little bit and you need to throw punches when teams are doing that, you can’t just sit in.”