IRELAND STAR Shane Long played 70 minutes as West Brom beat Southampton 2-0 at the Hawthorns tonight.
The Tipperary man was returning from a hamstring injury which prevented Giovanni Trapattoni naming Long in his squad for next week’s friendly against Greece.
The former Reading and Cork City striker set up Peter Odemwingie for the Baggies’ second after the Nigerian had also opened the scoring in the first half.
“This was a good response from a good team,” said Odemwingie. “We needed a bit of luck and it is simple, if you keep shooting you will score, we are happy with the three points.”
Southampton’s fifth successive away defeat can only increase the pressure on manager Nigel Adkins and the Saints boss had to endure mocking taunts of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” from the home supporters.
Odemwingie had enjoyed several chances opened the scoring in the 36th minute when his left-footed shot deflected off Maya Yoshida and went past Saints keeper Paulo Gazzaniga.
Southampton started the second half well with a shot on the turn from striker Rickie Lambert hitting the crossbar with Albion keeper Ben Foster beaten.
But Odemwingie doubled the Baggies lead after the hour when, having made good ground to outpace his marker, he headed in a superb cross from Long.
“To bounce back from the last two difficult games where we lost like we did was superb and I felt we deserved the win,” said Foster. ”We have conceded some unlucky goals recently so it is great to get back to winning ways and also keep a clean sheet. It is a cliche but we are not getting carried away, we will take each game as it comes.”
