James Morrison admitted there are few better feelings in football than winning when “you’re knackered and out on your feet”.
The Baggies advanced to round four of the Emirates FA Cup following a 6-5 victory over Swansea City on penalties after the two Sky Bet Championship rivals played out a 2-2 draw in 120 minutes of third-round action in South Wales.
Academy graduate Ollie Bostock scored the winning spot-kick and also helped himself to an assist – setting up club captain Jed Wallace in the second period of extra time.
Morrison says the players were extremely fatigued, but praised their ability to “stick together” and “dig deep”.
He said: “It was one of the worst 90 minutes I’ve watched, but we started okay and we had a lot of chances on the break but we just didn’t find the right pass.
“We let them get into the game by playing into their hands and messing around with it in midfield and we didn’t try to get behind them enough.
“However, we stuck together, which we’ve spoken lots about recently, and we got our rewards for digging deep and making plenty of blocks.
“We rode our luck at times, but we deserve our luck because we haven’t had much this season.
“I’m really happy for Ollie. I wanted to get him on the pitch to see if he could handle it because he’s been training with us all season and has been training really well. He got involved in the goal and then stepped up when it mattered.
“All the penalties were high quality, so we’re really pleased.
“It was a heavy pitch with the rain and it was cutting up. Maybe that’s the excuse I’ll use for our quality on the ball.
“We’ve had lots of players who have played plenty of minutes over the Christmas period. There were a lot of tired bodies today, but that’s what it’s all about – pushing your body to the limit to get that win. There’s no better feeling than being knackered and out on your feet, but winning.
“Before the game I said that we had so many days left of the season and it’s up to us to change our fortunes around. We can still make it a positive season and a good one, but football doesn’t wait around for you. We had to start somewhere and if we had to win ugly, then that’s what it takes.
“Our fans were unbelievable today and I thank them so much. It’s not easy in these times, but getting the win hopefully makes the journey worthwhile. Hopefully this win can kick-start our season.
“It was a real team effort today and we’re really pleased to get through to round four.”
