Bilic rues ‘very fine margins’ that cost West Brom result they ‘deserved’

Samuel Bannister 12 Dec 2020 6:16 PM

Slaven Bilic was frustrated by fine margins after claiming West Brom deserved a result against Newcastle.

West Brom suffered a 2-1 defeat at St James’ Park after their former striker Dwight Gayle headed in a winner in the final 10 minutes.

It was a big blow for the Baggies, who looked to be on course for a valuable point after Darnell Furlong had equalised early in the second half.

Bilic believes they had done enough to get a draw, but admitted they should have defended better for the winning goal.

“I think we deserved something from the game,” he said.

“We had a really bad start. We gave a cheap goal away in the first minute.

“In the first half they were stronger than us. They were first to the second balls. They were better in 50-50s.

“We had a much better mentality in the second half. We were brighter, stronger, better.

“We equalised, and then the game became stretched after that. We had waves. They had waves.

“We were trying to get into the pockets with Filip [Krovinovic] and Conor [Gallagher].

“We kept getting into good situations, but we didn’t turn those situations into chances.”

Bilic unhappy with Gayle goal

He added: “They put one cross in and they scored the winner.

“We should’ve had enough bodies to stop it.

“We are all very disappointed. It was a game of very fine margins.

“We’re going home empty-handed and that hurts.”