Carlos Corberan wants West Brom's Taylor Gardner-Hickman to learn from late Coventry defeat
Carlos Corberan has called for Taylor Gardner-Hickman to learn from Albion's last-gasp defeat at Coventry this week.
The Baggies academy graduate, who turns 21 next Friday, was highlighted by the head coach for his role in the Sky Blues' stoppage-time penalty winner for Viktor Gyokeres.
Gardner-Hickman was introduced from the bench with 25 minutes remaining at the CBS Arena and Corberan, whose side had previously won five Championship games on the spin, revealed he deployed the midfielder in a more advanced role in an attempt to win challenges higher up the pitch.
But the former Baggies schoolboy lost out in a challenge in the build-up to the penalty decision, where Erik Pieters was judged to have clipped Gyokeres, for the Swede to pick himself up and convert the winner from 12 yards.
Corberan feels young players, the likes of Gardner-Hickman, will learn. He said: "I don't think this game is related to one coach.
"This is the Championship and they have the experience to play in Championship games.
"Maybe Gardner has not enough experience, for example, he needs to learn from this situation.
"For example with the goal he needs to win the challenge, the young player needs to learn from these situations but the others ones doesn't need me to teach them about the Championship and how they need to compete because they've been promoted without me, so they have the attitude to know how difficult these games are, and to compete in these games."
Gardner-Hickman, who has been involved in 18 games this season – starting 10 – is likely to be part of the Albion squad at Bristol City for the Boxing Day contest on Monday.
Corberan, expanding on how he saw the closing stages play out in Coventry, added: "It started to look as though the draw might be the result, we did our last change – Diangana for Swift – and we played Gardner as a ten to try and win more challenges up the pitch and to have Diangana with the balance, but we lost one challenge in the space where I put a player to challenge and they create the counter.
"We didn't stop the duel in the middle of the pitch and they were better than us in this action.
"One player after that, against four, because it was Gyokeres against O'Shea, Molumby and Wallace, Pieters. I think we win the challenge and we keep the ball between us but it arrived to him and Pieters had no other solution but to try."
