West Brom 3-2 Crystal PalaceHome team scorersCraig Gardner 12
Craig Dawson 20
Saido Berahino 31
Away team scorersConnor Wickham 48
Connor Wickham 80
West Bromwich Albion have found their shooting boots at the right time, even if uncharacteristically abject defending almost saw them throw away a three-goal advantage. Having not scored more than twice all season, they struck three times in 19 first-half minutes to defeat Crystal Palace and all but secure their top flight status, despite enduring a nerve-testing conclusion.
Alan Pardew’s team did make a fight of it in the second half thanks to Connor Wickham’s double, but goals from Craig Gardner, Craig Dawson and Saido Berahino ensured a sufficient buffer for the home side.
While the closing stages offered some hope, Palace will enter the third month of 2016 still without a league win, taking only three points from their past 11 fixtures. That last league victory, at Stoke on 19 December, bumped them into fifth place. They are now 14th and still peering nervously over their shoulder.
It said much for how little excitement there was about a game between 13th and 14th that most of the pre-match discussion surrounded Chris Brunt and the unsavoury incident at Reading last week where he was struck by a coin thrown from one of the club’s own supporters.
Brunt, greeted here with the warmest applause, started at left-back but was carried off a minute before half-time having slipped after a challenge with Wilfried Zaha. As it turned out, Tony Pulis’s team were intent on giving their fans something positive to shout about and as Brunt departed the division’s second most goal-shy team before kick-off were three goals clear.
Crucially, Pulis played with two up front: Berahino, who apologised on Friday for his threat of downing tools early in the season, joining Salomon Rondón in attack. Palace sent out a team supposedly intent on bringing the game to their hosts, with Emmanuel Adebayor flanked by Wickham and Zaha, but they were void of craft in midfield, listless at the back and anonymous up front.
It took 12 minutes for Albion to open their account and the front two played a crucial role in the build-up. Berahino guided a nicely weighted through ball to Rondón. The Venezuelan’s shot was well saved by Wayne Hennessey but Gardner was the first to the rebound, tapping in from close range for his second goal of the season.
Gardner then provided the assist for the second eight minutes later, a teasing outswinging delivery from a free-kick on the right that was met by the rising Dawson, who powered a clinical header past Hennessey.
By the time Berahino volleyed past the helpless Palace keeper, teed up by an exquisite Stéphane Sessègnon diagonal pass, chants of “easy, easy” were emanating from the home end.
Further damage could have been done by the interval, with Gardner striking the left-hand post from a free-kick entering first half injury-time.
Palace, on the other hand, had not registered an attempt on target at the interval.
Yannick Bolasie, making his first league appearance since before Christmas, replaced Adebayor and Palace were given encouragement three minutes into the second period. After Damien Delaney sent an aimless header forward, Jonas Olsson made a mess of what should have been a simple clearance to allow Wickham through on goal. The now lone striker hooked the ball into the air before slotting past Ben Foster to make things interesting.
For a game that both managers had predicted would be tense and tight, plenty of space appeared as Palace committed bodies forward in the hope of rescuing something. That allowed Albion to counter dangerously and Berahino went desperately close to restoring the three-goal cushion in the 52nd minute only for his curling attempt to come back off the bar.
Bolasie was irate when his claim for a penalty after a challenge from Darren Fletcher in the 71st minute was dismissed, but Wickham struck again 10 minutes from the end when thunderously sending a left-footed volley into the top right corner. Mile Jedinak was denied an equaliser by a Gardner clearance off the line but West Brom did enough to close the final minutes out.
Guardian
