West Brom 1-0 Stoke

West Brom 1-0 Stoke

Home team scorers
James Morrison 6

In the end it they made it a little more difficult than it should have been, but West Brom rendered Saido Berahino’s return to the Hawthorns an irrelevance. A sixth-minute goal by James Morrison was just enough for Tony Pulis’s side to eke out a 1-0 victory over Stoke City, and despite hanging on a little in the last few minutes, the Potters hardly threatened.

Berahino virtually spent more time trying to leave West Brom than actually playing for them, so in the event of his return to the Hawthorns, a few weeks after signing for Stoke, his welcome back was hardly going to be warm. Before the game Berahino’s shots in the warm-up were greeted with cheers or boos from either set of fans, and a committed few home spectators even jeered his every touch as he kept loose at half-time. His pre-match promise not to celebrate should he score – moot, as it turned out – did not soften attitudes among his former fans.

West Brom thought they’d taken the lead in the fourth minute, when Salomón Rondón snaffled a chance on the edge of the six-yard box, only for the offside flag to flutter. But that only briefly paused their jubilation, as two minutes later a perfect counter-attack saw Darren Fletcher set Nacer Chadli down the left, who slid a perfect ball through to Morrison. This time just onside, the midfielder was allowed as much time and space as he liked to slot the ball into the bottom corner, the visiting defence as accommodating as a houseguest who removes their shoes before they’re even asked.

By the 14th minute Chadli was performing roulettes, Stoke’s backline looking genuinely afraid of what he might do to them, but apparently unwilling to do anything about it. Mark Hughes’s teamtalk might well have included informing them that they weren’t, in fact, facing Garrincha.

Still, of the two managers, Pulis was more animated, ostentatiously annoyed that his team hadn’t capitalised on their dominance. Rondón, Fletcher and Chadli all had fine chances that sent Pulis roaming around his technical area in frustration, his foghorn voice audible at the top of the stand.

His irritation was almost justified shortly before the break, when Stoke went perilously close to an equaliser through headers from Joe Allen and Ryan Shawcross, but Charlie Adam was lucky to escape sanction after leaving his studs on Fletcher’s ankle. The West Brom captain told both referee and opponent in no uncertain terms that punishment should have been forthcoming.

Berahino was introduced just before the hour, greeted by the appropriate opprobrium, but didn’t actually touch the ball for a full 20 minutes, in which time another substitute made a more substantive contribution, James McClean going close to a second for West Brom as his rifled shot was tipped over the bar by Lee Grant.

Berahino’s introduction didn’t do a great deal to inspire Stoke, who had plenty of possession as time ticked on but were ponderous with it, only really going close with an Erik Pieters header that he should have buried. The last few moments were end-to-end and fraught, but West Brom hung on.

Guardian