Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between West Bromwich Albion and Stoke City at The Hawthorns as goals from Kyle Bartley and Brandon Thomas-Asante sealed victory for the Baggies.
Saturday 12 November 2022 19:22, UK
A spectacular goal by Brandon Thomas-Asante sealed a hat-trick of wins for West Brom under new boss Carlos Corberan after they beat Stoke 2-0 at The Hawthorns.
Thomas-Asante scored Albion's second with a stunning overhead kick that evoked memories of Wayne Rooney's Manchester derby strike in 2011, after Kyle Bartley's second goal in successive matches had put the Baggies ahead.
It was West Brom's third consecutive win for the first time since August 2021, while they also secured a third straight clean sheet and have not conceded in 337 minutes of play.
It could have been a more emphatic scoreline, with Bartley hitting the bar, John Swift missing two chances and Harry Clarke almost scoring an own goal.
West Brom dominated and served notice of their intentions after just 29 seconds.
Swift's low shot from 15 yards was cleared off the line by Clarke after Jed Wallace's deflected cross fell into his path.
Stoke responded with a curling effort from captain Lewis Baker that hit a defender and sailed just wide.
Swift then wasted a chance when he blazed over from Conor Townsend's pull back.
Stoke were forced into an early change when Nick Powell was injured and replaced by Dwight Gayle after 22 minutes.
The former Newcastle striker, who scored 24 goals on loan for Albion in 2018-19, was met by a mixture of boos and cheers from the home fans.
West Brom remained the more likely scorers and a wayward header by Clarke beat his own goalkeeper Jack Bonham only for Ben Wilmot to save his blushes with a goalline clearance.
Albion went even closer with their next attack as Bartley sent a bullet header thudding against the bar from Swift's corner.
The goal West Brom had been threatening came in the 39th minute.
And it was Bartley again, powering a header into the roof of the net from another Swift cross after the latter's corner had been headed by Phil Jagielka.
Remarkably, moments later, Bartley got on the end of Swift's corner, but this time he could only direct his header wide.
Given West Brom's utter dominance, it was little surprise that Stoke were booed off at half-time.
And it got worse for the visitors as Albion doubled their lead five minutes after the restart.
Thomas-Asante produced a moment to remember as his acrobatic overhead kick from just inside the area ripped into the far top corner of the net after Darnell Furlong's cross was flicked into the air by Jagielka.
Stoke had their first effort on target in the 67th minute, but Liam Delap's low drive was easy for Alex Palmer, who tipped over a curling, 18-yard shot from Baker late on.
Substitute Grady Diangana missed the chance to make it 3-0 for West Brom when he sliced wide.
West Brom's Carlos Corberan: "It was a really positive team performance and result. The result was the consequence of the team competing very well from the beginning to the end of the game. I think the team showed how important that match was for us.
"We are coordinated and every one of the team is playing at a level of commitment that is necessary in this league. We have players with a lot of ability and I give a lot of credit to how they are mentally, how they are playing, what they are doing, and the level of commitment for me is massive."
Stoke's Alex Neil: "They looked more dangerous than we were. I thought the turning point was when Nick came off because he picked up Kyle Bartley in our box for set-plays and was a good threat, he looked alive and he linked things.
"But when he came off we struggled to retain the ball, we didn't defend well enough and we looked second to pretty much every ball."
