Stoke City vs West Bromwich Albion. Sky Bet Championship.
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Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday | Josh Maja scores as Baggies claim victory at the Potters.
Saturday 24 August 2024 18:59, UK
West Brom continued their unbeaten start to the Sky Bet Championship season as they claimed their second successive away victory in a 2-1 triumph at Stoke.
A frantic first half saw the Baggies take the lead through Karlan Grant before the hosts levelled the game after on-loan Liverpool man Lewis Koumas netted on his home debut.
Less than two minutes later, West Brom were back in front as Josh Maja's sweetly struck effort whistled past Viktor Johansson just after the half-hour mark.
After losing to Watford last weekend, Steven Schumacher will not want defeats to become a habit so early into a new season.
Lynden Gooch provided a wake-up call before Carlos Corberan's side spring into life and in the 18th minute, they took the lead.
After some tidy footwork by Tom Fellows on the right, he clipped a delicious ball to the far post - which deceived Johansson - for Grant to nod home for his first goal of the season.
The visitors almost doubled their lead moments later when Fellows was put through by Maja, he squeezed his shot under Johansson, but a sensational clearance on the goal-line by Eric Bocat kept the deficit at one.
From nearly conceding at one end, Stoke went up the other end to score an equaliser.
Million Manhoef was a thorn in the Baggies side throughout, his defence-splitting pass fell perfectly for Koumas to delicately guide the ball into the bottom left corner of Alex Palmer's goal.
Parity did not last long as two minutes after the leveller, West Brom retook the lead.
Again it was Fellows causing problems down the Potters' left as his cross found Maja, whose first-time finish gave the goalkeeper no chance.
The scoreline should have been level again in the 33rd minute.
Koumas was put through on goal once again, but he could not repeat his heroics moment earlier, this time his effort hitting the right post before Manhoef fired over from six yards with an open goal at his mercy.
The visitors nearly extended their lead five minutes into the second half when Alex Mowatt took aim from just outside the box, but his attempt sailed just wide of Johansson's left post.
After some sloppy football from the visitors, Koumas, who is the son of former West Brom and Wales midfielder Jason, rattled a right-footed effort off one of Palmer's posts for the second time in the game.
Boos rung out at full-time by the home support, clearly unimpressed with recent performances.
However, for the Baggies, they are into the play-off places after securing seven points in their first three Championship games.
Stoke's Steven Schumacher:
"On another day, he gets a hat-trick and takes home the match ball - but that is how close it is in this league. Those are the small margins and they are what determine the outcome of these type of games.
"Lewis was great, he played as a single number nine which he has done a few times but it is not his natural position, he looked really sharp for us.
"He caused their two centre-backs problems, they must have about 1,000 games in the Championship between them.
"It was his first start and you can't expect too much from him, but what we did see from him was definitely positive.
"I am disappointed with the result, it is a little bit harsh on us and I think we deserved something on the basis of how we played the game.
"It was a tough game, as we expected, against a team that finished inside the top six last season and who will be really strong again this year.
"I thought it was really a hard fought, closely matched, not a lot in it and we came away with nothing, on another day we could have come away with all three points."
West Brom's Carlos Corberan:
"I think our start has been positive, for me at this point in the season it is very important, not in terms of the points that you get - although we always want to get points - not in the results or the points that they other teams have, but the performance.
"We have a new squad, we have had a lot of changes and for me it is important that we get the steps right in beginning and build on the identity of this squad.
"I am really pleased for the players because they have put a lot of effort in today, of course, all of the credit goes to them.
"For me, they had to manage difficult moments in the game, after nearly scoring a goal at one end of the pitch, Stoke then showed the quality they have in the final part of the pitch, so the players kept the belief and showed the ideal reaction (when retaking the lead two minutes later).
"The team performed better in the second half than they did in the first, I liked the personality of the team as you saw in the last five minutes of the game.
"We were still trying to play football and keep attacking in that moment."
