Championship leaders West Bromwich Albion suffered a FA Cup defeat at Steve Bruce’s Premier League strugglers – at least Phillips and Edwards shone.
Slaven Bilic has hailed the ‘very positive’ performances of Kyle Edwards and Matt Phillips despite West Bromwich Albion’s 3-2 FA Cup defeat to Newcastle United on Tuesday, while speaking to the Birmingham Mail.
The Championship league leaders produced a stirring second half performance at The Hawthorns with two explosive wide men coming to the fore.
The ever-dangerous Phillips thumped a bouncing bomb of a volley into the top corner of Martin Dubravka’s net, before Edwards ran rings around Fabian Schar and Jamaal Lascelles to set up Kenneth Zohore’s tap-in with an assist reminiscent of Ryan Giggs in his rampaging pomp.
Unfortunately, Newcastle had already flown into a 3-0 lead by the time West Brom mounted their fightback, with Bilic’s praise feeling a little bittersweet.
“Some of them played really good, especially second half. First half we were too respectful,” said a Croatian tactician.
“Matt Phillips, Kyle Edwards, they unleashed themselves. Very positive performance.”
Experienced Phillips has been one of the first names on West Brom’s team sheet all season but, in contrast, Edwards has found regular game-time hard to come by in recent months.
The Dudley-born 22-year-old has been left out for each of the Baggies’ last six Championship games, despite the injury-enforced absence of Grady Diangana, but offered a timely reminder of his glittering potential against Premier League opposition.
With Diangana set to return sooner rather than later, and with Kamil Grosicki and Callum Robinson providing competition, Edwards will be desperate to prove that this is more than a dazzling one-off.
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