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Midfield man Darron Gibson said Wolves proved they have craft and graft in equal measure after going toe-to-toe with Black Country rivals Albion.
The loan ace made his return to Wolves duty at The Hawthorns after injury and looked assured as part of the midfield five that suffocated Albion’s free-flowing attack.
Gibson’s performance – sticking close to Albion playmaker Robert Koren – illustrated just why boss Mick McCarthy has earmarked a key role for the Republic of Ireland international in the season ahead.
The 20-year-old said he was delighted to be back, saying he had enjoyed his first taste of Black Country battle. “I enjoyed it, it was good,” he said.
“It was brilliant, the atmosphere was unbelievable. I thought it was a good game to be fair, even in the first half with them slightly on top and then we were better for the second half.
“Apart from the penalty I think we did enough to win although I suppose a draw is a fair result. My free kick was very close but just finished up the wrong side of the post.
“Having not played for a while I found it a bit difficult in the first half with the game being so quick but in the second I settled down and had a lot more time on the ball.”
Gibson reckons that hard-to-beat Wolves are starting to get the balance right between stopping and creating.
“I think we are good at stopping people from playing,” he said.
“We’ve got three big central midfielders, I think Seyi, myself and Karl are all over 6 ft, but while we can stop others from playing when we get the ball we can play as well.
“We’ve got a good squad and a good young bunch of players, I think it’s going to be a good season.
“You can talk about 4-5-1 but that’s only when we’re defending, it’s 4-3-3 when we’re going forward. We went out to try and attack and I think we did it well and were perhaps unlucky not to score.”
He also paid tribute to Wolves’ penalty hero Wayne Hennessey, who came to their rescue when Neill Collins conceded a late spot kick for a tug on Craig Beattie.
The Wales international saved Zoltan Gera’s penalty – and earned plaudits from the Manchester United man.
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