Slaven Bilic dedicates West Brom win to Jake Livermore

The Baggies thumped their promotion rivals 3-0 at Ashton Gate with a brace from Hal Robson-Kanu and a Callum Robinson strike securing a thoroughly deserved three points.

But it was Livermore who picked up the man of the match award following an outstanding display in the middle of the park.

The captain won the ball high up the pitch to set-up Robinson’s opener. He then saw a shot saved from 20-yards which led to Robson-Kanu’s first goal.

But even without those moments, his overall performance was outstanding with the 30-year-old’s energy setting the tone for Albion’s high pressing game.

“For the whole season he (Livermore) has been brilliant for us,” Bilic said.

“Today, I wasn’t that over the moon with the way we started.

“We didn’t win as many second games as we should.

“We were here, the ball was there. We were here, the ball was there.

“And then Jake, as a proper captain, he forced everybody else to step up.

I don’t like to single out the player but this was his win to be fair, brilliant. Brilliant.”

Over the course of the 90 minutes, Albion simply had too much for Lee Johnston’s side and arguably should have won by a greater margin.

But there was a huge flashpoint in the 77th minute when Romaine Sawyers received a red card for putting his hand around the neck of Jamie Paterson.

The duo previously played together at Walsall with Paterson appearing to say something which enraged the Albion man.

Bilic, though, doesn’t believe Sawyers should have been sent off.

“I spoke to him, and I saw the incident,” Bilic continued.

“Believe me, I’d say the same if it was the other way around - for me, it’s not a red card.

“For me, their player helped because he didn’t react in a crazy way.

“He didn’t exaggerate what happened.

“It was Romaine who reacted because of something that he did.

“Okay, he grabbed him, but if this is a red card we’d have a lot of red cards.

“For me, it’s not - and believe me I’d say the same...for people who say ‘well they’re the rules’ - yes but there are situations in the game.

“It can’t be black and white. For me, this is a derby game. Move on.

“They’re talking about three or four games - this is ridiculous to be fair.”

Bilic believes referee Darren England should have taken into account Sawyers’ personality, with the boss pointing to an incident between Man United’s Harry Maguire and Chelsea's Michy Batshuayi.

“Romaine just isn’t that kind of a guy,” Bilic said.

“Chelsea against Manchester United the other night - Roy Keane said brilliantly about Harry Maguire’s thing with Batshuayi.

“Roy Keane said that what saved Maguire was that the ref took the whole package.

“It’s Maguire - he doesn’t have that kind of a history.

It’s the same with Romaine. It’s different if it’s someone crazy who is doing it, but not Romaine.”

Overall, though, Bilic was delighted with his team’s display at Ashton Gate.

“This was like a derby game,” he added.

“We knew we’d have to have a complete game to get anything from here.

“We did it with style, we were quite comfortable. We limited them to one chance, ten minutes to go - Nakhi Wells - and on the other hand we scored three and should’ve scored more.

“We managed the game really well. The game started hectic, a bit stop-start, no fluidity in the game.

“Then after 15 minutes, we started to play. They wanted to play, and we started to get the ball very high, especially Jake.

“After the first goal, we got the momentum. We stepped even more forward, and until the end of the game they didn’t even have any moments.”