Jed Wallace says scoring against Portsmouth on Saturday afternoon was a massive “relief” and hopes the goal can kick-start his season.
The club captain finished off a blistering attack in front of the Brummie Road End to make it 3-0 to the hosts inside the final ten minutes of the first half on a day where Tony Mowbray’s men recorded a tremendous 5-1 triumph.
The 30-year-old revealed the last few months have been “difficult”, with Wallace making just a handful of starts in the Sky Bet Championship so far this term.
Jed admits to wishing his first of the campaign hadn’t come against a club he played over a century of matches for and one he, in his own words, “owes a lot to”, but also insisted his emotions after seeing the ball slam into the back of the net were too powerful to contain.
He said: “You saw on Saturday that when our good players play well – the likes of Grady Diangana, who was magic and is someone who can make a difference for us, Mikey Johnston and Tom Fellows to name a few – we can really click.
“It was obviously great for John Swift and I to get goals because we’ve both been waiting a long time for them. They were our first goals of the season.
“I needed that goal and that performance. It’s been a difficult few months for me, being in and out of the team and not playing as much as I would’ve liked.
“You always need that rhythm as a player. I wish my first goal hadn’t come against Portsmouth, the place where I came through and it’s a great club and one I owe a lot to.
“That relief, though, I couldn’t hold the celebration in. It was great for me and great for my confidence. Hopefully it can get me going again, and hopefully Swifty’s goal can help him get going again too.”
The No.7 says Tony Mowbray has given the squad clear instructions about the way he wants Albion to play.
Wallace says the players have been given the freedom to play forward quickly and attempt to win the ball back in the opposition half.
Jed added: “It was a really important win for us on Saturday. When a new manager comes in you always want to start well.
“You want that new manager bounce and that’s what we got. We had a really difficult away game up at Middlesbrough for his first game where we lost, but there wasn't much in it.
“We knew that we wanted to be a team that scores a lot more goals at home because it’s something we’ve struggled with this year.
“The gaffer was drilling us all week about scoring more goals and we then went and scored four in the first half. We were disappointed to concede right at the end because we felt as though the score should’ve been about six or seven nil.
“He’s given us freedom. It’s really hard to speak about a new manager without coming across as disrespectful about the old manager. That’s not what I want to do at all because everyone associated with the club had huge admiration for Carlos Corberán and the job he did for us over the two years he was here.
“The new manager has come in and he wants us on the front foot and attempting to win the ball back more in the opposition half.
“He wants us to try and play forward as much as we can, even if we risk losing the ball to do that.
“There were plenty of positives and it’s time for us to start looking up the table now.
“The boys worked really hard and it’s given us something to really build from going into the Plymouth game next weekend.”
