Carlos Corberan praised West Brom’s “maturity” as a hard-fought 1-0 win at Cardiff lifted them to third place in the Sky Bet Championship.
Jeremy Sarmiento’s stunning second-half strike gave Albion a fifth win in six games and seven from their last 10.
“It was total opposite win,” boss Corberan said comparing Albion’s success in the Welsh capital to their free-flowing victory over second-placed Ipswich on Saturday.
“This result was the consequence of the team competing with maturity when we couldn’t find the football we wanted to create.
“The first half was very difficult to impose our style, we couldn’t find more than four or five passes because we couldn’t link enough.
“It was very important for me not to be frustrated but to fix details.
“We improved the possession in the second half and had the ball in better positions.
“We had to show defensive spirit in the second half to secure the three points.”
Sarmiento has had a slow start to his Baggies spell after joining on a season-long loan from Brighton in July.
The 21-year-old former England youth international, who played for Ecuador at the 2022 World Cup, has been troubled by a quad injury and this was only his second league start.
On Sarmiento’s wonder strike five minutes after the break, cutting on to his right foot and curling home from 20 yards, Corberan said: “Maybe I didn’t expect him to shoot from there.
“He has the quality and he was very positive, but it was not easy from the angle that he had.
“It’s important for Jeremy to have the minutes because the injury has stopped him having the continuity he needs to have.
“We know he is a young player with a lot of talent and he needs to keep building his level. The more he improves the better it is for the team.”
Cardiff manager Erol Bulut was angry his side were not given a late penalty for handball, saying in a post-match radio interview that “this league needs VAR for sure”.
Bulut said: “I didn’t mention anything about referees because I respect them and I think they need to respect Cardiff more.
“This was a penalty and we will report it. I don’t want to speak but they are pushing me. They are costing me many points. I don’t want to report it.”
Bulut absolved on-loan Arsenal goalkeeper Alex Runarsson, who was making only his third league start for the Bluebirds, of blame for Sarmiento’s winner.
He said: “We watched it and I spoke with the goalkeeper coach (Mario Galinovic) and he said he couldn’t catch the ball.
“I have to see it, but if the goalkeeper coach says this, it’s a really good shot.
“We don’t have to allow that shot. But we should push the opponent to the line.”
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