Albion goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen has revealed that he was disappointed to be shown a yellow card for a challenge on Nicolas Jackson during the second half of the 2-1 home defeat by Chelsea. In fact, he was hoping for a red!
The Dutch stopper raced out of his penalty area to deny Jackson, who tumbled to the ground. Referee Michael Salisbury gave a free kick and reached for his pocket and most of the Amex held its collective breath. Bart was the only one not relieved to see the official produce only a yellow.
He explained, “I was hoping that the ref would give me a red card because then with VAR he could see that I didn’t touch him [Jackson], and we would get the ball. But he gave me a yellow because the ball went to the side.
“I think we would have been better off if he had given me red card because then we would get the ball. When he sees it’s not a foul, we get the ball. The free kick ended up in my hands so it was all good.”
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He added, “To be fair, I hesitated a little bit to come out and then I did come and I think it was the right decision in the first place to go. And then I made a tackle but I didn’t touch him at all.”
Arguably the save of the match was Bart’s backwards leap in the first half to touch the ball over the crossbar after Malo Gusto’s shot took a defection off Igor Julio and seemed to be looping into goal.
“The deflection made it harder but it also shows how eager everybody is to stop the ball going in,” Bart said. “Everyone throws their body in front of the ball and the defenders and also the midfielders have made so many blocks this season and sometimes you get unlucky and you get a deflection and then I’m still there to try to keep the ball out of the net. I’m happy I could do that.”
Unfortunately his efforts could not help the team to grab a late point. “I think we reacted pretty well after being 2-0 down, which is never easy but should always be the case,” he said.
“I think the red card [shown to Chelsea’s Reece James] helped us, but maybe the goal came a little bit too late. We just couldn’t get a second and I think we conceded a bit too easily. So yes, disappointed.”
He thought about going up for a late corner as Albion laid siege to the North Stand goal. “It was the 99th minute and we got a corner and I wanted to go but they took it quickly and there wasn’t any point in me going so I stayed back.
“Sometimes you feel like you want to help the boys up front to put it in the net but that’s not my job and the guys who are there are way better than me.”
Now he is concentrating on the final match of the season, Sunday’s visit of Manchester United, when the team hope to confirm a third successive top-ten finish.
“Yes, it’s important for us. I want to celebrate with the fans one more time, give them a chance to celebrate with us as well because they’ve been brilliant this season and we want to reward them. Top ten obviously is big for us as well. We will give it our all and try to win on Sunday.”