Wanderers made it five games unbeaten as they picked up their second league victory of the campaign with a deserved win against Norwich City on Saturday afternoon.
Gary Madine opened the scoring for the Whites in the 35th minute, with Adam Armstrong’s peach of a long-range effort five minutes later putting the home side in a commanding position while Josh Murphy’s injury time strike was simply scant consolation come full time.
And speaking after the final whistle, manager Phil Parkinson covered the following points…
On heading into the international break off the back of a victory…
It was important for us, it really was. We’ve taken nine points from the last five games which is a really good return and it’s the first time that we’ve headed into an international break off the back of a win.
We’re very pleased all round today though. We did start a bit slowly – in the first 15/20 minutes, Norwich looked bright, although perhaps more mentally than physically, and we weren’t switched on.
We got ourselves going though and although we knew that Norwich were a good football team who could keep the ball, we knew we could hurt them in wide areas and when we got our chances, we took them.
It was a very professional performance in terms of how we managed the game and saw it through.
Obviously we are disappointed to have conceded in the last minute because the concentration levels have got to be there until the ref blows the final whistle.
It was frustrating for us, but I don’t want that to take the gloss off what has been a great day for us.
On Adam Armstrong answering his critics…
Adam has come into the team and had chances to score, but he’s also worked very hard for the team and had some very good games.
Gaz had the same problem and we could see that the goals were going to come and they have.
The supporters who have followed us home and away though will have seen that Adam has come close to opening his league account for us and he has earned his goal today with his work in training and on the pitch.
He is a player who can produce moments but he needed that goal today. He is a young player and he needs everybody behind him to lift him.
I cannot fault his attitude and also his courage – he never, ever lets things affect him and he is a very confident lad in his own ability, so I’m so pleased that his goal has come.
On Gary Madine notching for the second game in succession…
I’m pleased for Gary – he’s getting better and better in my eyes and that was another very good all-round performance.
When your number nine plays as well as that alongside getting a goal, then you’ve got a great chance of winning games of football.
On the result lifting us off the bottom of the table…
It’s very good psychologically, even if it’s just briefly pending results tomorrow. We’ve been there a long time, but more importantly, it’s about the progression and belief in the group and I do feel that the spirit in the camp is excellent.
We know we haven’t got the riches of the majority of the teams in this division, so we’ve got to make up for it in other areas and I think we showed that today.
There’s got to be that extra bit of desire and determination and it’s a terrific win for us.
On the fans’ backing…
It was very good, as always. As I said in my programme notes, you could see when we went to Sunderland how difficult it was for their players to play at home.
It really does make us appreciate how good our supporters have been through a difficult start to the season and I’m so pleased that we’ve sent them home tonight with smiles on their faces.
We’ve got to keep going though – this has been a good block of games for us, but we’ve got to take a deep breath now and go again.
And finally, looking ahead to after the international break and a trip to Preston North End…
It’s a terrific game for us to go into and we can do so all guns blazing.
Sometimes, when you’ve won, you want the next game to come, but we’ll be ready for it and the next couple of weeks will give the lads a mental and physical break.
That said though, the training standards we have will not slip – our standards have been very high in recent weeks and there’s a real will to win, so it’s crucial that we maintain that.