2 weeks ago
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West Brom bounced back from a rough week with a gnarly victory to puncture the mood at the Championship’s early pacesetters, Stoke.
Ryan Mason, the head coach, had seen two key players depart in the days before this trip and had to watch from the stands as he served a touchline suspension. That did not prevent his team torpedoing Stoke’s 100% start to the campaign with a win that was as hard-fought as it was deserved.
The exits of Tom Fellows and Darnell Furlong to Southampton and Ipswich respectively had left a sour taste in the mouth of West Brom supporters. So with Mason absent from the technical area and a bumper crowd at the bet365 Stadium many predicted the visitors would be up against it.
Mark Robins reverted to the same lineup that secured away wins at Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton in the league, imploring his charges to “park” the surprise 3-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Bradford in midweek. Stoke also paraded their latest signing, the Slovakian midfielder Tomas Rigo, on the pitch before kick-off and he was greeted with the unfurling of a banner reading “Vis unita fortior” – a united force is stronger.
It has certainly felt like Robins has united Stoke in recent weeks; the noise from the home supporters during a scrappy opening spell was evidence of that. But there were also nervy moments for the hosts, the first one coming when Viktor Johansson almost fell into his own goal catching Mikey Johnston’s teasing cross, the goalkeeper eventually throwing the ball to safety.
West Brom found joy all afternoon via crosses, Johnston especially troubling the Stoke defence with deep diagonals from the left. After another cross from the former Celtic player was squirrelled away for a corner, Johansson dropped Alex Mowatt’s set piece and Nat Phillips steered in the loose ball.
In Johnston, it seemed Mason’s side had the game’s kingpin, his scurrying runs down the left regularly forcing Junior Tchamadeu to backpeddle, and he almost teed up Aune Heggebø on the half hour mark as West Brom’s dominance grew. Stoke remained a threat on the counter, their best chance falling to Million Manhoef whose near-post header was parried by Josh Griffiths after Sorba Thomas’s fizzing cross. Manhoef again found Griffiths’ grateful clutches with a tame effort just before the interval.
If Stoke are to prove themselves as genuine contenders for promotion, or even a playoff place, under Robins this season, how they respond to adversity will be critical. They did not quite manage that here. Yet during an end-to-end start to the second half, they almost produced the exact response the manager will have demanded, Divin Mubama striking the post as West Brom floundered trying to clear Tatsuki Seko’s ball. Bae Jun-ho then sent a peach of a volley inches wide.
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The Baggies’ superiority from set pieces proved a consistent concern for Stoke and Jed Wallace ought to have made it 2-0 on 69 minutes after a flick-on from another Mowatt corner. The experienced midfielder instead kicked thin air.
The introduction of Toby Collyer, the Manchester United loanee, gave the visitors extra legs and presence in midfield and they were content to rely on counterattacks in the latter stages, while thwarting the hosts’ desperate attempts to equalise. And while Mason rarely saw his charges come close to that vital second strike, they held out to preserve their unbeaten start under the new coach.
