Pictures and analysis of Swansea 3 West Brom 1

If Albion never see the Liberty Stadium again, it will probably be too soon.

The scene of Roy Hodgson's lowest point as Baggies boss became the venue for the toughest night so far of Steve Clarke's reign.

At least, it was the most difficult 45 minutes for Clarke since he took the Hawthorns hotseat, before a goal in first-half stoppage-time and a much-improved second half display at least gave his side a little pride to take away.

By the time Romelu Lukaku's fifth goal of the season sparked a Baggies revival, however, the damage had already been done. Albion paid for a sluggish start with two early Swans goals from which they never recovered.

And, for a while at the start of the second period, the Baggies pinned their hosts back and offered the 1,000-or-so travelling fans hope of a comeback.

Ultimately, however, the early defensive aberrations that allowed Michu and Wayne Routledge to make it 2-0 inside 12 minutes told for the Baggies.

They imploded again for Routledge's second and Swansea's third six minutes before the interval. West Brom had to survive an early scare when Michu raced onto a chip from Pablo Hernandez in the Baggies box and bearing down on goal.

The Spaniard could have gone down as Claudio Yacob tugged his shirt and claimed a penalty but he stayed on his feet and fired a shot against goalkeeper Boaz Myhill's near post.

The Baggies failed to fortify their defences and were hit twice in four minutes. Both goals came down the home side's left flank.

Peter Odemwingie left Billy Jones exposed and the Baggies full-back had no answer to the trickery of Pablo Hernandez.

First, the wide man found space and fired a low ball across the face of goal on nine minutes for Michu to poke home after sneaking in front of Jonas Olsson.

Then, with the visitors still digesting the opener, Hernandez swapped passes with full-back Ben Davies before delivering another cross, which Olsson cleared against Routledge with the resulting ricochet leaving Myhill helpless.

The Baggies avoided any immediate further damage with a shot from Swans midfielder Ki Sung-Yeung flying well wide of Myhill's goal.

West Brom finally fashioned a shooting chance when Youssouf Mulumbu, restored to the side after injury, squared for Odemwingie, who sent a left-footed shot a yard wide.

But that was merely a moment of respite for the Baggies defence, who were pushed back and breached again six minutes before half-time.

Again, Odemwingie failed to deal with an overlapping run by Davies with the young full-back receiving possession in oceans of space on the left after neat link-up play involving Dyer and Hernandez.

West Brom failed to clear Davies' cross and it fell nicely for Routledge, who had time and space to pick his spot and hit a shot, which crept under the body of the Myhill on its way into the net.

Three minutes into first-half stoppage time, however, Olsson competed with Ki for Chris Brunt's corner and the ball flicked off the Korean for Lukaku to volley home his fifth goal of the season.

That goal appeared to unsettle the hosts, who found themselves pinned on back-foot early in the second half as a switch to a 4-4-2 system immediately made West Brom more potent.

Lukaku had an early sight of goal when he raced between centre-backs Chico Flores and Ashley Williams to seize upon Gareth McAuley's straightforward clearance.

But the ball would not sit down for the big Belgian, who shot high and wide. The Baggies pressed on and some neat passing worked another shooting chance for Odemwingie on the edge of the box but he dragged it wide with his left foot.

By the 70-minute mark, Clarke's men had failed to make a further dent in Swansea's lead. And Michu could twice have restored the hosts' three-goal cushion.

First he headed off target from a cross by Hernandez and then when he saw a long-range drive parried by Myhill.

There was a further scare when a clear dive by Leon Britton earned the Swans a free-kick just outside the box and had Chris Brunt fearing he might received a second yellow card of the night.

By then, the steam had gone out of the Baggies' attempted fightback and, just as with Hodgson's side's 3-0 defeat at the same venue 14 months earlier, they were left to reflect on a night to forget.

By Steve Madeley