West Brom boss on substitutes' 28-second impact to make difference at Wrexham
Ryan Mason admitted it was "nice" his subs paid off in Albion's win at Wrexham - as sometimes he knows he will be criticised.
The Baggies head coach turned to club captain Jed Wallace and Mikey Johnston from the bench at The Racecourse with the scoreline locked at 1-1 with a little over 15 minutes remaining.
And just 28 seconds after being introduced for Tom Fellows and Karlan Grant, Wallace latched on to a Johnston pass and hammered a left-footed finish through Danny Ward at the goalkeeper's near post.
Johnston delivered another assist with a fine cross converted by Isaac Price for the attacker's second and Albion's third in the entertaining 3-2 win.
"We're going to need everyone," Mason said when asked about his changes making an impact. "We need every single player we've got available to us to help us win games of football.
"I actually thought it was a really good goal. I thought it was fantastic, centre-forward play and really good movement from there to exploit space.
"For Jed to have that finish with his first touch of the ball on his wrong foot, I thought it was really positive. We're going to need him and we're going to need everyone to come on and impact games for us."
Asked about being a new head coach and having changes make such an influence, Mason smiled: "It's nice because I'm sure there'll be scenarios this year where I make subs and probably get criticised for it.
"That's just part and parcel of being a football manager. It's the nature of the game.
"Most importantly for me, like I said, it's players arriving inside of the pitch, present and ready to help the team. We certainly had that today."
For Wallace it was a first goal since January and matched his entire tally for last season.
Republic of Ireland international Johnston - who was close to leaving the club for Brazilian club Flamengo this summer - created both goals and both he and Wallace were mobbed by team-mates in the goal celebrations.
Mason's Baggies have started the season with consecutive league victories, while the boss was also very pleased with the manner of the performance against Derby in the EFL Cup, despite bowing out on penalties after a last-gasp equaliser.
