Jaouen Hadjam fires home to seal the points for Albion at Sunderland (Image: Richard Parkes)
Jaouen Hadjam fires home to seal the points for Albion at Sunderland (Image: Richard Parkes)
Jaouen Hadjam has revealed he was told to stay patient as he awaited his Premier League debut.
And he believes the same patience will be key in assessing how far Albion can go this season.
The Algeria left-back crowned a brief first Prem outing by scoring the goal which capped a 2-0 win at Sunderland.
Fabian Hurzeler has opted to play Olivier Boscagli at left-back since switching Ferdi Kadioglu to the right of defence.
But Hadjam has been waiting for his Prem chance and took it in style.
He said: “First minutes in the Premier League, first goal.
“I recognise that the coach told me to be patient but today he gave me my first minutes.
“I ended up helping the team at time like that where the end of the match was quite tough.
“That is a good reward for all those efforts and I am very happy and very proud.”
Hadjam played in the Carabao Cup win at Manchester United, sending Charalampos Kostoulas through for their team’s first goal in a memorable comeback.
He will have a part to play in the busy two-game weeks which lie ahead.
Asked what targets Albion can set, he said: “We go match by match. The Premier League is always tough.
“At the moment we are in very good form.
“We don’t know if it will the same in one month or in six months.
“We are going to try to win every game because we play to win.
“Then as the matches and the time goes by we will see what we are playing for.”
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Hadjam appeared unimpressed by a suggestion from French media that Albion were unconvincing given the match pitted 14th versus third going into the weekend.
He said: “It is always tough way from home.
“Sunderland are a team who have a lot of impact, a lot of pressing.
“With their supporters, it is always a tough game.
“We were solid. We got through situations well, we finished our chances. We were efficient in front of goal and took three points home with us.
“It is the start of the season. You can’t look at the table too much.
“They are a good team, they press a lot, one on one.
“When they do that, it is difficult to find imbalances but we knew how to remain patient.”
Albion are now preparing for Thursday’s home date with newly-crowned Lithuanian FA Cup winners Kauno Zalgiris in the Conference League on Thursday.