Wigan rallies to beat West Brom 2-1

Posted Sunday, December 11, 2011 by YAHOO Sport

WEST BROMWICH, England (AP)—Jordi Gomez lifted Wigan off the foot of the Premier League table by converting a second-half penalty to clinch a 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

The Spanish midfielder found the corner in the 57th minute after Victor Moses was fouled by West Brom right back Steven Reid, who had put the hosts ahead in the 33rd with a sublime free kick.

Moses, with a perfectly placed curler into the top corner, equalized four minutes later with his first goal in 13 months and Gomez’s third in four matches completed the turnaround for Wigan, which bounced back from a 4-0 hammering by Arsenal last weekend.

“We had to cope with the hardest thing in football, which is going one goal behind, to a fantastic piece of skill from Reid,” Wigan manager Roberto Martinez said.

“For an hour, I thought we were very comfortable. We kept the ball very well, we looked like a team playing with real confidence. To do that when you are bottom of the table, gives you great confidence.”

Wigan is now three points clear of Bolton, which dropped to the bottom after losing 2-1 to Aston Villa on Saturday.

West Brom, which stayed in 15th place, hit the goal frame twice—through Chris Brunt early in the first half and top scorer Shane Long 11 minutes from time.

“It was one of those days where you find it hard to assess things, in the sense that losing at home to a team below you in the table should fill you with a lot of regrets and anger,” West Brom manager Roy Hodgson said. “But I can’t be angry with that performance, really, because I don’t think we can play a lot better than that.”