Anthony Onifade

Sat 7 October 2023 8:40, UK

Lewis Cox has shared that West Brom manager Carlos Corberan was the most “despondent” he’s been after a game following their 3-1 defeat to Birmingham City.

The Express & Star journalist, taking to his personal Twitter account (6 October) following the defeat at St Andrew’s shared that the Spanish coach was “perplexed” by the controversial penalty call which led to the Blues’ equaliser.

The hosts scored three goals without response after West Brom had taken control through John Swift early in the first half, including an unfortunate penalty that was conceded by Cedric Kipre after he was adjudged to have fouled Koji Miyoshi when he appeared to slip.

Carlos Corberan’s side find themselves in seventh place after this result and Cox shared the Spaniard’s emotions after the game in a game where he and his team were “hard done by”.

He tweeted: “We’ve just finished speaking with Carlos Corberan. Probably the most despondent I’ve seen him after a West Brom game.

“Perplexed by penalty call – affected emotions, he said. Thinks his side have been very hard done by of late.”

Dreadful decision

The Baggies were in complete and utter control soon after Swift bagged the opener in the fifth minute, playing some swift and fluid football that Birmingham City simply could not live with.

It was a start that Corberan would have been delighted by and had that continued for much longer, West Brom could have found themselves two goals up.

However, such is the dreadful state of the refereeing in the country these past couple of weeks, one disastrous penalty call swung the game in Birmingham’s favour.

Kipre’s tackle on Miyoshi was as clean as you can get, nowhere near a penalty but the referee looked to have been fooled by the Japanese international’s slip at the last moment.

It was indeed a dreadful call and completely swung the tide in Birmingham’s favour and again shows how crucial such decisions can be especially in an intense derby.

Corberan is absolutely right to feel the way he did after the match, any manager would. However, he will be disappointed by the way his side just fell flat after the Blues scored that penalty as they never looked threatening aside from one Furlong chance early in the second half.

It’s a lesson which needs to be learned quickly if the Baggies are to threaten in the play-off places again.

In other West Brom news, a football expert has been left stunned after behind-the-scenes news has emerged at Hawthorns over the past few months.