West Bromwich Albion 2-0 Stoke City: Baggies beat Potters for third straight win
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Brandon Thomas-Asante's stunning overhead kicked sealed all three points for West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion climbed out of the Championship's bottom three after beating Stoke City to claim their third straight victory.
The Baggies had the better of the first-half chances and were rewarded just before half-time when Kyle Bartley headed in from a corner, his second goal in eight days.
Brandon Thomas-Asante sealed victory for Albion five minutes into the second half with a spectacular overhead kick - his first goal in 10 games - to earn Carlos Corberan's side all three points.
The Baggies climb out of the relegation zone to 21st place in the table, just above Wigan Athletic on goal difference.
As well as securing three consecutive wins for the first time since August 2021, Albion clocked up a third straight clean sheet, having not conceded a goal now in 337 minutes of play.
They could have won by a more convincing margin too, but Bartley hit the bar, John Swift missed two chances and Harry Clarke was close to scoring an own goal.
Albion went close to opening the scoring after just 29 seconds when 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 captain Lewis Baker then saw a curling effort hit a defender and fly just wide before Swift wasted another chance when he fired over from Conor Townsend's pull-back.
Kyle Bartley scored for the second time in successive Saturdays
After being hampered by the early loss of striker Nick Powell on 22 minutes, it needed a goal-line clearance from Ben Wilmot to keep Stoke on level terms when Clarke's wayward header beat his own goalkeeper Jack Bonham.
Bartley then headed against the bar from Swift's corner before they combined again for the opener, the Baggies defender this time powering a header into the roof of the net.
Prior to scoring the only goal of the game at QPR last weekend, Bartley had not scored in over 12 months, since netting in a 3-0 home win over Bristol City in October, 2021.
The Baggies doubled their lead five minutes after the break when Darnell Furlong's cross was flicked into the air by Phil Jagielka and Thomas-Asante's acrobatic overhead kick from just inside the area flew into the far top corner.
Stoke did not manage an effort on target until the 67th minute, but Liam Delap's low drive was easy for Alex Palmer, who was then called into action again to tip over a curling, late 18-yard shot from Baker.
Who's next?
Football in the top two English divisions now stops for a month because of the World Cup in Qatar.
Stoke, who drop to 17th in the Championship, have a 28-day break before their next game at home to Cardiff City on 10 December.
Albion must wait two further days before they return to action with a trip to Sunderland on Monday, 12 December.
West Bromwich Albion boss Carlos Corberan told BBC Radio WM:
"The best way to achieve a positive result is to be focused. I was watching a team with a lot of commitment. It's a good step.
"From the first moment I arrived they have shown a lot of commitment. They are working really hard and competing well. We were ready to do anything necessary to win the three points.
"We know the Championship is a very challenging competition. What I want is to have the team ready mentally. We'll use this period of time to keep working with the team. It's a positive opportunity."
Stoke boss Alex Neil was a serious target to become West Brom boss in April 2019 following the sacking of Darren Moore
Stoke manager Alex Neil told BBC Radio Stoke:
"It was disappointing. I changed it to 4-4-2 to try and make us more solid and defend central areas. We didn't do it well enough.
"We looked jaded, mentally and physically off the pace. We didn't move the ball well enough. They looked more dangerous.
"When Nick Powell came off the game shifted. Before that we had a good 10-minute spell and penned them in. At that point we looked comfortable. The last 10 minutes of the first half we basically weren't doing anything right.
"I know you get criticism for changing a winning team but the freshness was in their favour, for me."