And defender praises coaching staff for doing their homework
GARETH McAuley was delighted to score the crucial opener in last night’s 2-0 win at Liverpool – but says it might be enough to make his mum see red!The Northern Ireland centre-half headed home Chris Brunt’s 81st-minute corner to set up a thrilling win.
And, with a large number of his family being Reds fans, it brought him extra joy to score at Anfield, especially following his strike in September’s 2-0 victory over Merseyside rivals Everton.
“It was especially nice to score here because it’s the club my family support,” said McAuley, who has won all four games in which he has netted for the Baggies.
“I’ll give my Mum a call but I don’t know if she’ll speak to me!
“Half my family support Liverpool and the other half support Everton and I’ve scored against both now!”
The former Ipswich and Leicester centre-half also paid tribute to the coaching staff as their homework paid off from Brunt’s flag-kick.
“It was a great assist from Brunty," added McAuley.
"It was one of the only corners he had but he put a great ball in and I managed to get free from [Daniel] Agger.
“The coaches pretty much told us where to run on the video and said if we put the ball there we would score - and that’s what happened.
“The staff did their homework and we just applied it to the pitch.”