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West Brom’s head coach, James Morrison, insisted his side must “stay humble” after Isaac Price inspired them to a 3-1 comeback win against promotion favourites Burnley in the Championship at the Hawthorns. The Northern Ireland international scored twice in the second half after setting up Harry Whitwell’s equaliser to cancel out Callum Styles’s early own goal.
“I felt it was a top performance. I enjoyed it at times for the intensity with the lads willing to run for each other,” Morrison said. “We did the basics really well – we won tackles, and when we lost the ball, we ran back and when the opportunities were given to us, we took advantage.
“I felt like Burnley couldn’t handle our intensity, and I could smell that at half-time, so the message was to up the intensity.”
Burnley, without injured star striker Zian Flemming amid intense speculation of a move, failed to match their lofty billing in a disappointing second-half display. Albion continued their 100% start to the season, gaining their third straight win in all competitions and second in the league to lie second in the early table, behind Millwall on goal difference.
In a fast and furious start, there were two goals in the first 18 minutes. Styles put into his own net in the eighth minute from Jacob Bruun Larsen’s cross. Albion complained that Hannibal Mejbri fouled Felix Horn Myhre in the buildup 70 yards away, with several passages of play unfolding before the goal. Styles had to make contact to prevent Oliver Sonne getting the chance but the ball hit his left heel and it flew into the net.
Whitwell equalised on 18 minutes when he slotted home low to Max Weiss’s left from 12 yards for the 20-year-old’s first league goal for Albion. Burnley appeared wrongfooted by Jimmy-Jay Morgan’s flick-on from Price’s cross, before Bashir Humphreys failed to clear. But it was Burnley who went closest to scoring again when Bruun Larsen sidefooted against the foot of the post from Marcus Edwards’s searching cross.
It was a different story after the break. Inspired by Price, Albion produced a dominant second-half performance, with the perfect start. Price put them ahead for the first time, in the 46th minute, curling the ball beyond Weiss, who had strayed five yards off his line, into the far corner. The goal came from a loose ball when Morgan tried to help back Styles’s cross and Hannibal challenged.
Burnley made a triple change in the 57th minute with the arrival of Ugo Raghouber, Zeki Amdouni, and Dastan Satpayev. Amdouni tried to test Max O’Leary with a rising, curling effort from 20 yards but it flew straight at the Albion keeper.
Instead it was Albion who struck next to effectively seal it, after Humphreys upended Whitwell for a clear penalty. Price made no mistake from the spot, firing low to Weiss’s right with the keeper going the wrong way.
Afterwards, Morrison said: “We enjoy competing against the so-called bigger teams and we competed really well today. We don’t want to get carried away. We have to keep our feet on the ground, keep working hard and stay humble.”
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Burnley head coach, Nicky Hayen, said: “I think we didn’t have the energy, desire and hunger of the home team. You also have to give credit to West Brom. You can always say we played a bad game but they had the structure, a lot of good energy, hunger and desire.
“We had problems and no solutions. I didn’t expect this – it was an eye-opener for everyone, myself included.
Morrison went on to defend Aune Heggebø, as the Norway striker missed Sunday’s game following his retrospective Football Association two-match ban for “deception of a match official”. The sanction came after the incident against Norwich when his goal went in off his hand. Albion have appealed against the ban.
“We were really frustrated and shocked. Bo was disappointed so we had to back him and we wanted to appeal,” said Morrison. “He was deemed to have cheated the referee which he didn’t. Yes the ball hit his hand but with the pace of the cross and the keeper touching it, it’s very hard to get out of the way.”
