West Brom boss Carlos Corberan saluted the returning Daryl Dike after the striker ended his eight-month injury nightmare.
The United States international, out since April with a serious Achilles injury, scored as the Baggies cruised past Aldershot 4-1 in the FA Cup third round.
First-half goals from Nathaniel Chalobah Jovan Malcolm also made it a Sunday stroll for the hosts before Tom Fellows’ late fourth and Ollie Bray’s consolation.
It was a perfect comeback for Dike as he looks to finally shake off the injury issues which have restricted him to just 28 appearances in two years.
A hamstring injury on his full debut in January 2022 sidelined him for six months and a thigh problem at the start of last season kept the 23-year-old out for three months.
Corberan said: “The way he celebrated the goal says many things about how much he has been suffering, how important it was to score, how important he is for us in the the dressing room.
“Afterwards, the players gave him a big round of applause. They were celebrating he has come back with the group and scored the goal because eight months out, managing the injury, is difficult especially for him after suffering injuries.
“To come back was an important step for us. It’s a massive step. We need to keep working on his adaptation to football again, hopefully we can keep growing in the process.
“To achieve something in the Championship you need to not have a lot of injuries. To have Dike as striker is always a positive.”
There was never any suggestion of a third-round upset as the Baggies raced into a 2-0 lead after 15 minutes.
Chalobah hooked in Fellows’ cross after seven minutes before Malcolm seized on Cian Harries’ slip to add a second.
Dike got his goal after 27 minutes, taking advantage of more sloppy defending, to fire in from 10 yards and wrap the game up before half time.
The second half was a procession, with Kyle Bartley lobbing onto the roof of the net from halfway and Fenton Heard shooting over.
Aldershot offered little in response although Lorent Tolaj tested Josh Griffiths from distance.
Layton Love blazed over after being sent clean through but Fellows added a fourth with two minutes left when he cut inside and fired in off the post.
Bray netted a consolation in the fifth minute of injury time to leave boss Tommy Widdrington proud.
He said: “It was a nice way to end, our fans were on the up. We shot ourselves in the foot for two goals, standing on the ball at one stage and then missing a corner and it hitting someone in the face.
“They had a lot of the ball in the first half but didn’t have a lot of efforts. I thought we showed them a bit too much respect in the first half.
“I’ve got no qualms about the result they are a class act and Carlos is a top person.”
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