Stoke 0-2 West Brom: Baggies move back to top of Championship

West Brom are back on top of the Sky Bet Championship after a comfortable 2-0 win at beleaguered, managerless Stoke on Monday night.

Matt Phillips put the Baggies in front early on at the bet365 Stadium and substitute Hal Robson-Kanu doubled their advantage in the second half.

It puts West Brom two points clear of Preston, Leeds and Swansea - who all won over the weekend to temporarily move above them - at the summit.

• How the teams lined up
• Championship table

Stoke, meanwhile, who were playing their first game since the sacking of Nathan Jones last Friday, remain bottom of the table, six points adrift of safety.

West Brom cruise back to the summit

It took just eight minutes for West Brom to carve out the opener. Grady Diangana was at the heart of it as he played a one-two before squaring the ball across the six-yard box, where Phillips popped up to slot home.

Stoke briefly improved after the break but West Brom soon regained control and after 69 minutes, they doubled their lead thanks to a reckless, sloppy lunge by Cameron Carter-Vickers as he took out Diangana in the box.

Robson-Kanu, only just on as a substitute, then stepped up to dispatch the resulting penalty.

Moments later Robson-Kanu could have had a second as he latched onto a Phillips cross but rattled the post with his header. It wasn't to prove a costly miss, though, as West Brom comfortably saw the game out.

What the managers said...

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Stoke's caretaker boss Rory Delap: "I thought they were the better team. There weren't loads of chances and we didn't create anywhere near enough, but they were clinical with the chances they had. The second goal killed us. [Carter-Vickers] did so well to get back into position to make a challenge, but then it was a rash challenge.

"I think I've got to take a portion of the blame. The formation maybe didn't work, but as I said before I put the strongest team out that I felt I could that fit. There are one or two things that I probably have to look at for the future, but if that's for Saturday or not I don't know."

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West Brom's Slaven Bilic: "From when we scored the second goal to the end we were different class, but until we scored the second goal I wasn't happy with the performance and at half-time I told the guys.

"[Stoke] have some brilliant players on paper but they are in crisis, let's be honest, that's why they are where they are, and that's why I couldn't be happy with us being one up. I told them to raise our game a bit more and, to be fair, we did that. It was quite an even game until we scored the second goal."

Man of the match - Romaine Sawyers

No goals or assists but a quality, composed display from Sawyers in the middle of the park for West Brom. He has been a brilliant signing since his arrival in the summer, proving his quality with his passing and ability to dominate a game. Stoke's midfield couldn't get a sniff.

What's next?

Both sides are back in Sky Bet Championship action at 3pm on Saturday. Stoke head to Barnsley and West Brom visit Hull.

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