Hodgson surprised by clean sheet

West Bromwich Albion manager Roy Hodgson paid tribute to the club’s supporters after beating Everton in the last home match of the season.

Youssouf Mulumbu’s 10th-minute strike proved to be the winner in the English Premier League clash on Saturday, but 1-0 was an unlikely final scoreline at the Hawthorns.

Both teams enjoyed numerous chances throughout the next 80 minutes, but a combination of near misses and goalkeeping heroics somehow prevented another goal in the match.

“I’m rather surprised we kept a clean sheet because there was a lot of activity in front of our goal,” Hodgson told Sky Sports.

“By contrast, there was also a lot of activity at their end. I lost count of the number of balls cleared off the line.”

“So, it was a bit of a strange 1-0, but we’re very pleased about it of course as it’s another victory in this league in front of our own crowd.”

“The crowd have been magnificent all season, certainly since I’ve been at the club. Almost all of them stayed right to the end to wave us goodbye for the season.”

“I think both teams took the game very seriously, we both wanted to win it, but playing at home and needing the points more than Everton, maybe worked in our favour.”

In danger of relegation when Hodgson took over in February, the 63-year-old has orchestrated an impressive revival during his four months at the club.

And West Brom now have an opportunity to finish in the top half of the table if they win away to fellow promoted side Newcastle United on the last day of the season.

“We’ll go for it,” Hodgson said, referring to the trip to St James’ Park.

“It’s a difficult game next week and Newcastle won’t be lying down, they’ll want the same reception we got from our fans for their last home game of the season.”

“But we won’t go up there as makeweights, we’ll go to try and get some points from the game.”

Everton manager David Moyes declined to speak to media after the match.

The Scotsman was reportedly angered by some decisions made by referee Anthony Taylor, who sent off Everton substitute Diniyar Bilyaletdinov in the 76th minute.