Lewis Cox analysis: Dream lives on for West Brom when many feared ultimate nightmare
Nerves? What nerves? Professional Albion swatted aside Preston to book a play-off ticket that could not have been any more deserved.
An untimely trio of defeats on the spin heading into The Hawthorns finale meant there were nerves, certainly in the stands, but you wouldn’t have known it on the pitch.
Albion channelled the energy and noise from their supporters, started well and made their big moments count. Once the penalty went their way on the stroke of half-time, the job was done. Preston capitulated in the second half and the hosts went for the jugular.
The job done by head coach Carlos Corberan this season has been nothing short of sensational.
It’s not been easy, by any stretch, and the Spaniard, in his first full season at the helm, has guided the club to a play-off place, still in reach of the Premier League, while a takeover process crawled on amid the stony and absent ownership of Guochuan Lai.
The whole club was shrouded in worry. Not least the supporters, but even managing director Mark Miles admitted the other day there were times this season he was laced with doubts for the club and what the future held.
It has been said several times, but is worth emphasising at this stage – Albion’s biggest match this season, bigger than were they able to reach Wembley on May 26, was to secure the club’s future.
