Di Matteo happy gamble worked

West Brom manager Roberto Di Matteo admitted the signing of Peter Odemwingie was a gamble, but was happy it paid off.

The Nigerian striker put in a hardworking shift as the lone frontman for the Baggies and scored the winning goal late on to give the home side a 1-0 victory over Sunderland.

Odemwingie only arrived at The Hawthorns on Thursday from Lokomotiv Moscow and was immediately thrown into the starting line-up by Di Matteo.

"He's trained once with us yesterday and it was a bit of a gamble to be honest," said Di Matteo.

"But I think he had a good game today and he managed to score a goal for us."

Odemwingie is not the only player Di Matteo has brought in however, but he would not be drawn on when Cameroon international Somen Tchoyi would be fit to play for the club.

"He's not quite ready and still a bit behind fitness-wise so I'm not really sure when he's going to feature," Di Matteo said.

"We'll have to be patient with him, so I can't really say when we're going to be ready."

Changes

Di Matteo came under pressure to make several changes following their 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Chelsea on the opening day.

However the Baggies boss insisted that no judgments were to be made on one performance and felt that making just two alterations paid off.

"It doesn't make sense to make too many changes because that was one game and we have another 37 to play, it's a long season so we don't judge players or a team on one game," he added.

"I have belief in my players and they showed exactly why I have belief in them.

"We played some very good football and cut out some of the mistakes we made in the last game and we deserved the win today."