West Brom manager Roy Hodgson insists the best team won after victory over former club Liverpool

Roy Hodgson, West Bromwich Albion (Getty Images)

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West Bromwich Albion manager Roy Hodgson insists the best side won as Liverpool succumbed  to a late defeat at the Hawthorns.

The Albio boss also played down any rivalry with Kenny Dalglish, the man who replaced him as manager at Anfield.

Much has been made about the relationship between the pair but as the Baggies boss recorded an important win against his former club, he insists the focus should be on the performance of his team.

“Obviously games are built on rivalries between managers but it was about what happened between the two teams,” Hodgson told Sky Sports.

“We were anxious today to put in a good performance and continue along the lines of the way we have been playing in the last few weeks.”

Liverpool took the lead shortly into the second half through Martin Skrtel, but two Chris Brunt penalties secured the win and Hodgson believes that West Brom fully deserved their victory.

“We knew that if we were poor today we were facing a top quality team and we would have had to be at our very best,” he added.

“I think we were our best and I think we deserved the three points.”

West Brom dominated for most of the first half but looked to be heading towards defeat and their second half turnaround was especially pleasing for their manager.

“Especially as it came against the run of play we had a really good spell before half-time for about 20 minutes and were taking the game to Liverpool,” he said.

“We were looking confident defensively and when that corner came in and Skrtel bulleted that header in, you could have been forgiven me for thinking ‘goodness me, is it going to be one of these days’, but the players lifted themselves immediately and carried on playing.

“We carried on our domination and our passing was very good in the middle of the park and up front we have players with pace and ability will cause trouble.”

Both West Brom penalties came from fouls on Peter Odemwingie who enjoyed a prosperous afternoon against Sotirios Kyrgiakos who was at fault in both decisions.

Hodgson was pleased with the striker’s performance and admits that he deserved a goal for his efforts.

“They were very clear penalties weren’t they?” he said.

“I thought it would be nice in some ways had Odemwingie not been fouled and scored the first and when he’d gone round the goalkeeper.

“If you get past the goalkeeper rather than having to do it via a penalty it would be better.

“Penalties can always be controversial and I’ve got to say it’s been a long time since I’ve seen two clear penalties.”

The result signals a significant step forward in West Brom’s fight against relegation and with the club now four points clear of the drop zone it has relieved some of the pressure on the team.

Hodgson insists that he has no hard feelings towards Liverpool despite the acrimonious nature to his departure and the 63 year-old insists he has maintained a strong relationship with the club since his exit.

“There is no extra pleasure that it was against Liverpool. I made a lot of friends in my time at Liverpool,” he said.

“I have a lot of time and respect for the players and the coaching staff who worked very loyally and very well for me.

“The great pleasure I take is in beating Liverpool because at West Brom it’s not something we do very often.

“Today we did it and we deserved to do it. We were the better team on the day.”

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