Brandon Thomas-Asante says he was delighted to make clean contact with the ball for both of his goals against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
The forward fired into the bottom corner from the edge of the box for his first, before making a smart dart across the front of the defender and slamming home from close range in the second 45 to double his afternoon's tally.
Thomas-Asante could well have had a treble, only for the Baggies’ third strike of the afternoon to be awarded to Dom Hyam of Rovers who was adjudged to have had the final touch.
Brandon now has ten goals in all competitions in 2023/24, but is targeting many more in the remaining months of the campaign.
He said: “I was really happy to get a hat-trick today [laughs].
“No, obviously I just threw myself at it and I didn’t even see if I got a touch on it or not.
“A striker will always claim it, but I’m just happy that I got on the scoresheet at home, that the fans were happy and that we got the win as a team. It was a really good day.
“The team performance more than anything was one to be proud of.
“Both me and the defender will want to say it was my goal. I saw it trickle in. I threw myself at it, but I can’t say for sure that I did get it.
“It’s good to be in those positions though. Sometimes as a striker you have to make whatever you can happen. Whether I got a touch on it, that’s for everyone else to decide.
“I’ve been working on those types of finishes a lot in training. The coach Michael Hefele has been working so much with me and he knows I don’t want to go straight in from training.
“I want to get my finishing to a level where it’s as good as possible.
“There are certain positions we find ourselves in as a team quite a lot, heading out into wide positions. For the second one, that little dart across the front, that’s something we’ve been working on.
“The first one, it was a little bit wide. For whatever reason though, when I get into that position, I feel quite confident. I scored a similar one for Salford against Bradford a few years ago.
“I was happy to get the right contact on both of them and to see them hit the back of the net.
“I feel like I’m happy with hitting double figures, but I feel like I should have scored a few goals more. I know I have more to do.
“I know we’re only halfway into the season and I want to keep on pushing.”
