Johnson hails 'terrific team effort'

22 February 2010 08:23
Lee Johnson's 58th-minute winner was the perfect tonic for his team - and especially his under-fire dad.[LNB]The City boss has been taking plenty of flak from unhappy supporters following a run of only two victories in 17 Championship fixtures.[LNB]And Johnson was delighted at his side's change of fortunes.[LNB]"We needed a win over quality opposition to restore self-belief, and that's exactly what we got," he said. "Hopefully, this can be a really big result for us and we can start looking up the table again rather than over our shoulders.[LNB]"It was a tremendous team effort. I gave up celebrating Lee's goals when he was in under-nines football, and I'd rather concentrate on a terrific effort by all the players.[LNB]"We had a tough opening 20 minutes, but once Albion scored, I felt we raised our game and were quicker to the ball."[LNB]Johnson got the winner as he tapped in Danny Haynes' right-wing cross and the goal crowned a fine second-half recovery by City after Albion had looked in full control for the first 45 minutes.[LNB]The visitors deservedly went in front when Graham Dorrans beat Dean Gerken with a sweet low shot from the corner of the box on 24 minutes, the ball going in off the far post.[LNB]But the match turned in the 55th minute when City skipper Louis Carey touched on a Johnson corner, and Chris Iwelumo pounced to net the first goal of his loan spell from Wolves.[LNB]After Johnson's goal, the Baggies rarely looked like getting back into the game. There was a late chance for Roman Bednar, but Gerken pulled off a comfortable save.[LNB]Baggies boss Roberto Di Matteo admitted to being "annoyed and disappointed", particularly by the manner of Bristol's equalising goal.[LNB]"We knew at half-time that the next goal in the game was going to be important, so to concede it from a corner was very frustrating," said the Italian.[LNB]"I felt we were in total control of the game up to then, and that their equaliser was the turning point.[LNB]"We didn't play well after that, and perhaps the number of fixtures we are playing is catching up with us, because we have been using mainly the same personnel in each game.[LNB]"It's disappointing to miss out on the chance to get back into an automatic promotion place, because that was our aim going into the game."[LNB][LNB]

Source: Team_Talk