Rob Edwards’ scenes of emotion when celebrating tonight’s win over Aston Villa matched his passionate words in his post-match press conference.
The head coach was celebrating the Old Gold’s hard-fought win over their West Midlands neighbours, which came courtesy of Joao Gomes and Rodrigo Gomes strikes in the second half of a memorable night at Molineux.
The win was Edwards’ second in the Premier League since taking charge and he said nights like this were the reason he returned to the club in the first place.
On a special Molineux night
“I understand that we have to perform, and a win in a derby game, you’re going to get a good atmosphere. I know it’s two ways and the fans were amazing tonight, backed the players, and when Villa had their periods, they were brilliant for us, making a lot of noise. The end was incredible. It was a special moment in a difficult season. It’s nice to be able to show some emotion and build that connection that we’re desperate to do. That’s why I came here, nights like that, really special moments. That’s a moment that will live with me forever.”
On celebrating with the fans
“There was a lot of emotion, and I lost myself for a while. Football can do that to you. I forgot where I was and who was watching. I know it’s been a really difficult season, but if you can’t enjoy those moments, in a really big game, against a brilliant team, then you shouldn’t be in the game. I think it’s right that we all enjoy it.”
On a fine performance
“We needed to carry out the plan. Against a team like Villa, who are tactically brilliant and have such good individuals, it’s important you carry out the plan to the bets of your ability and when you get it wrong, run really hard and try to defend your goal. When we didn’t get it right, we worked incredibly hard to defend, and when we did, we managed to take advantage of a couple of the moments that we had. I thought we were excellent. We didn’t get everything right in the first half and had to adjust a bit, so we could be better with our pressing.
“I felt like I was looking the right way for a lot of that second half. If they had the ball, I felt like we were in a good place. Once we go 1-0 up the game starts to shift, but in the main we defended really well with brilliant blocks and desire to keep the ball out of the net. I want to be really respectful of how good they are, so to beat them you have to be pretty good as well, and I thought the performance overall was excellent.”
On Joao Gomes’ performance
“He was brilliant. Joao was on the bench against Arsenal because he wasn’t fit and had his trainers on on the bench in the end. We felt, because the performance was good, that we went that way against Palace. But he came back into the team and gets his goal. I put a bit of pressure on him before the game at pre-match, and I said I wanted him to be Man of the Match today and he stepped up. I thought he was excellent.”
