Ryan satisfied with an important point

Albion were chasing the game from the ten-minute mark following Cesar Azpilicueta’s opener, but recovered well through Alireza Jahanbakhsh’s stunning strike in an impressive second-half display, and the Socceroos shot-stopper felt the side could have easily come away with all three points.

He said, “We prepare to win games, especially being here at home, so we’re obviously a little disappointed, but we can’t be too frustrated with a point after being behind for a long period.

“We produced a spirited second-half performance, and we were going at them. We got an incredible goal and Ali obviously nearly got the assist for Neal [Maupay], which would’ve been the winning goal if it hadn’t been for Kepa’s save.

“We pushed and probed and thwarted what they had, but we still had to be careful because they have a number of dangerous aspects about their play. They had a few openings, but we managed to stop those and got another point on the board.”

Ryan praised Graham Potter for being flexible with his team selection and tactics to try and thwart Chelsea’s strengths, as well as the players coming into the side for making a big impact.

“The main cause for his changes of personnel, formation and tactics was because we were coming up against different opposition, and he needed another system to try and win the game.

“But in a period like this, player freshness comes into it and you’d have to ask him what dictated the decision behind the changes.”

The keeper also spoke in more detail about Jahanbakhsh’s goal and explained that he, his team-mates and the fans took a bit of time to digest what they had just seen.

“It was an eerie feeling because I think everyone took two seconds to register what had happened," he continued.

"There was a bit of disbelief, and I had my face in my hands afterwards. Looking at his reaction, he probably thought the same thing.

“I asked him if it was the best goal he scored, and he agreed. All that was lacking was the winning goal afterwards.”