Roy Hodgson was full of praise for Shane Long and the club's medical staff after his speedy recovery from injury helped West Brom defeat Bolton.
Baggies boss pleased with home performance
West Brom boss Roy Hodgson was full of praise for Shane Long and the club's medical staff after his speedy recovery from injury helped West Brom defeat Bolton at the Hawthorns.
Albion feared the Republic of Ireland striker would be out for up to eight weeks with a knee injury but he was back after a month to earn his side a first win over the Trotters in seven years.
And Hodgson told
Sky Sports: "We've had this new Hydroworks installed at the training ground. It cost a lot of money but I think it's going to pay dividends because people like himself and Paul Scharner at the moment have been able to do work in there which they couldn't have done on the field in a normal situation.
"But Shane himself has to take almost all of the credit in a way because I don't think there are many players who would have received an injury in that severity and come back after four weeks. It would have taken most of them longer.
"I think the doctor got the prognoses right, but I congratulate him by beating it by two weeks."
Performance
Long justified his quick return to action after injury by heading the Baggies winner at the Hawthorns.
Jerome Thomas had given the hosts the lead but then conceded the penalty which enabled Ivan Klasnic to level for the visitors.
And Hodgson added: "I think it was a very good performance. I thought that we dominated the game and thought we were very good value for the two goals.
"I would have liked to have seen us score one or two more, because when there's only one goal in the game, it is always a little worrying that something is going to happen but I thought we were very attentive defensively and continued to pile up the chances.
"We found Jussi Jaaskelainen in good form and unfortunately we didn't have our shooting boots on at times in important areas."
