Long looking for final flourish from Baggies

Southampton 0 West Brom 3

West Brom’s comprehensive victory at Southampton saw the Baggies set a new club record for Premier League matches won (14) and points gained (48). Things could get better still if they finish ninth or above as that would represent their best ever finish in the Premier League era.

“I felt like we have been playing well over the last couple of weeks,” said the Tipperary man.

“Maybe we were a little slow out of the blocks and we got caught because of that before. I think the only really bad performance was the first half last week against Newcastle.

“We started off very well and put ourselves in a great position to have a great season. I think the players and manager have deserved it so hopefully we can kick on for the last four games and get right up there.”

Southampton were unbeaten in six matches heading into Saturday’s clash where Marc-Antoine Fortune opened the scoring after just six minutes, with second-half strikes from Romelu Lukaku and Long securing the three points.

“We came here with a game plan,” Long said.

“We had a very attacking team out and we caused them all sorts of problems at the back. Once we got that first goal, we felt very confident about winning.

“The gaffer [Steve Clarke] said that as a front three we could interchange positions and the three of us were comfortable up there. It was enjoyable. I thought we played very well as a team and when we needed to defend and soak it up at the start of the second half we did that pretty well too.”

Despite a fine West Brom performance, most of the talk after the game was about referee Robert Madley after a top-flight debut to remember. The Yorkshireman sent off Saints left-back Danny Fox for a two-footed lunge after earlier showing red cards to Gaston Ramirez, for elbowing Long in the face, and Fortune.