Sunderland's win over West Brom: Mike Dodds post-match

Laid to rest the ghost of Cheltenham getting first win?

I felt really strange about that kind of answer and question the other day. I felt like the narrative was it's Mike Dodds vs West Brom when in reality it was Sunderland vs West Brom. What's gone on in the past has gone on in the past. I'm just really happy for everyone connected to the football club. I'm happy for the fans, the most important thing today was three points regardless of whatever has gone on in the past.

Was it always in your mind to play Jobe up front?

The guys were saying, I haven't had a chance to watch it back yet, that it was onside. If you look at Jobe, we have the privilege of having a lot of resources in terms of clipping things up and data, things like that. Jobe had a goal at QPR which was chalked off, today which was chalked off, he arguably should have scored against Leicester, he could have scored two against Birmingham. He could have scored against Ipswich in the first game of the season. What Jobe does have is a real knack of being in the right place at the right time. I don't think you can coach that. What we have to do is just tidy those bits up. I've have the privilege of coaching Jobe from a really young age and having that privilege of having him from Under-9s through to Under-14s playing as a striker. It wasn't until he got older his position changed. I'm not saying he's a number nine, I'm saying he's a player that can hit the box. A player that has a natural ability to find space in the box. The reality is for an 18-year-old, if luck had gone his way, he should have posted double figures in terms of goals by his name. We'll see what Tuesday brings, but as I've said before I think I can play Jobe anywhere on the pitch and he'll perform for us.

Is it a big ask for him to do that again on Tuesday against Leeds?

Potentially. You've stood next to him and I think his brother has said something about him being a thoroughbred or something like that, he's got a unique body. We'll see how the next 48 hours goes. We've done most of our prep in terms of how we think we'll set up against Leeds on Tuesday night, but we'll see how the next 48 hours goes and we'll take it from there.

It was experience in Pritchard that got you the two goals?

I've said that to him in the dressing room just there. It's not lost on me the free0kick and clever little reverse for Dan Neil which it's a great finish from him as well. Pritch knows my thoughts on him. I've got a really good relationship with him and he's done exactly what I thought he would do in the game, which was impact the game. We'll see where he is for Tuesday night.

Your thoughts overall, the only disappointment conceding the goal?

Yeah I think you've hit the nail on the head. I'll be honest with you I didn't like the first-half, although we should have been 1-0 up. We had a couple of really good chances, I felt them threaten the goal without really having a threat on goal. I didn't like the control they had. We had to change a couple of things and at half-time we had a couple of honest conversations around tweaking things and being a little bit more aggressive and a little bit more in their face. Second-half, I thought for a large spell, we controlled the second-half. I'm a perfectionist and I've spoken to the players in there. I didn't like the goal we conceded. We've got three defenders in the box and they've got one attacker and they score from it. That's something we'll talk about in the morning. I didn't like that and the last five or six minutes becomes a little bit nervy. I didn't think it was overly out of control, but we should see those games through. I think sometimes when you've got a young group, those things happen. I keep saying about the process, we've got to keep working with these players because they've only got upside in terms of their talent. We've got to keep working with them, what comes with young players is mistakes and we've got to be patient with them. 

How proud of you in terms of the whole week and how today has gone?

I said to the group and the staff, I don't want to be out of focus and I'm really aware of the result at the end of 90 minutes is probably most important to the supporters. But as a football club, behind the scenes we can't become unfocussed, we've got to stick to a way of working. Regardless of that bit, what I'm really proud of, everything we worked on to a degree, like I said there were moments in the first-half that I didn't like, but when you come up against a good coach and they were a really good team, I'm stood at the side of the pitch thinking these are a well coached team. You could see that he's had a pre-season with them and that he's implemented his philosophy on the group. What I am really proud of is when you made those tactical tweaks, particularly in the second-half, the players adapted. Sometimes when you make those tweaks, you've got to be all in on it. You've got to be completely in on it, no black or white, if we fail, we fail through sticking to a plan. In terms of being proud, we had to make some changes and tweaks to the original plan and I think the second-half performance was a Sunderland team.