Chris Brunt won't complain if West Brom beat Aston Villa with another 'Hand of Rod'

Back in December, the Baggies drew 2-2 with their rivals at The Hawthorns thanks to an injury time goal from Jay Rodriguez that hit his hand on the way in.

It has rankled with Villa ever since, and boss Dean Smith said in the build-up to the play-offs that in his mind, his side won that fixture.

Brunt understands why Villa were ‘fuming’ that night, but he would take another ‘Hand of Rod’ if it meant the Baggies progressed to Wembley.

“We got away with one that night, of course we did, no bones about it,” said Brunt. “If we get away with another one on Saturday or Tuesday I won’t be complaining.

"It’s just fine margins, you’re only a matter of something like that knocking you out or putting you through.”

Brunt did have sympathy for Villa after that match, and understands why they were angry.

“You would be,” he said. “If it was the other way around we would have been fuming. That’s life, some you get some you don’t.

“They got hard done by that night. I was standing behind a load of bodies so I didn’t see it but I’m not going to say he didn’t handball it because it obviously hit his hand.

“An extra two points in that game wouldn’t have made any difference to where they finished so it didn’t really make any great difference.”

Brunt has been on the end of a similar decision with Northern Ireland, when Corry Evans was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box during a World Cup play-off with Switzerland.

The Swiss scored the penalty and it turned out to be the only goal of the two-legged tie.

“I think that’s what made it worse because we came so close to actually putting it right in the second leg,” said Brunt. “We had chances to go through, albeit they had chances to beat us away from home.

“But to put in a performance like that away from home and miss out, ultimately on a terrible refereeing decision, it hurts.

“Once it’s done, it’s done and there’s not an awful lot you can do about it.

“They are never going to just take us back in the World Cup because the referee made a bad decision.

“You’ve just got to do everything in your power to try and win the game and hopefully everything else falls into place.

“You’re always on the end of something, no matter what. People come off the pitch complaining about a refereeing decision regardless of whether you’ve won, lost or drawn. It’s a horrible, tough job isn’t it?”