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Westbrom 0-3 Stoke: Etherington scored, Walters double
A Matthew Etherington penalty and a Jon Walters brace sealed a convincing 3-0 Premier League victory for Stoke over West Brom at The Hawthorns.
Etherington coolly converted in the 55th minute to open the scoring for Stoke, after Kenwyne Jones was adjudged to have been felled by Scott Carson in the Albion penalty box.
Five minutes before full-time, substitute Jon Walters slotted home another penalty after Simon Cox tangled with Dean Whitehead to put the visitors into the ascendancy.
Deep into injury-time West Brom’s misery was complete as Walters grabbed his second, and Stoke’s third, slamming the ball into the roof of the net after the midfielder’s initial effort was blocked to hand Stoke only their second away win of the season.
West Brom were left to rue the two penalty decisions that were awarded with more than a tinge of controversy.
For the first penalty, replays clearly showed that Jones dived over Carson’s hands before falling to the ground while, in the second, the coming together of Cox and Whitehead appeared less than clear-cut.
However, the Baggies only had themselves to blame for a subdued performance over the 90 minutes which was perhaps symptomatic of their current struggles.
Both teams came into this game with recent contrasting fortunes. Despite strong early season form, West Brom had lost three of their previous four Premier League games and have since been slipping down the Premier League table at an alarming rate.
Stoke, meanwhile, came into this match buoyed by back-to-back victories which included an impressive 2-0 home victory over Liverpool last weekend.
However, these apparent differences were hardly made clear during the first 45 minutes, as both teams created a scrappy spectacle.
The Potters appeared to begin the brighter of the two teams, with Ricardo Fuller linking well with Jones on a couple of occasions, ably supported by Etherington and Jermaine Pennant on the wings.
However, a hamstring complaint for Pennant in the 11th minute, forced the English winger off and his replacement, Sanli Tuncay, failed to attack down the Stoke right flank with the same vigour.
West Brom began to find their feet about midway through the first-half. Youssouf Mulumbu lashing a rising 30-yard shot slightly over Asmir Begovic’s goal in the 23rd minute.
But it was in their wing play where The Baggies looked like they might strike the opening goal.
Jerome Thomas and Giles Barnes were getting more and more freedom down their respective left and right flanks, but the final ball was either lacking in quality or Roberto Di Matteo’s men simply failed to pack the Stoke penalty area.
Most notably, on the 30th minute, Barnes whipped in a cross from the right but Ryan Shawcross was on hand to crucially flick the ball away from the Stoke goal. If the 23 year-old hadn’t done so, then James Morrison, following in from behind, surely would have converted.
Peter Odemwingie was also starting to prove a handful for Stoke’s centre-back pairing of Robert Huth and Shawcross.
However, particularly in the 42nd minute, after twisting and turning to create space, the Nigerian striker harmlessly shot straight into Begovic’s arms.
Following Etherington’s penalty ten minutes into the second-half, West Brom were always on the back foot.
An impressive cameo from Somen Tchoyi failed to raise the home-side’s spirits as Walters’ brace put the gloss on a polished Stoke performance.
Liam Graf / Eurosport
Source: uk.eurosport.yahoo.com
Team Line-up:
West Brom: Carson, Jara, Tamas, Pablo, Cech, Barnes, Morrison, Mulumbu, Scharner, Thomas, Odemwingie. Subs: Myhill, Tchoyi, Reid, Dorrans, Shorey, Fortune, Cox.
Stoke: Begovic, Wilkinson, Shawcross, Huth, Collins, Pennant, Whitehead, Delap, Etherington, Jones, Fuller. Subs: Sorensen, Higginbotham, Whelan, Gudjohnsen, Wilson, Walters, Sanli.
Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside)
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