West Brom 2-0 Stoke - Report

Carlos Corberan's men were comfortable 2-0 winners to climb out of the Championship relegation zone in their best performance yet under the new Spanish head coach and best showing for many months.

Man of the moment Kyle Bartley continued his redemption story with a towering first-half header to give the hosts a one-goal half-time lead against the Potters, who were second-best throughout.

It could have been three or four at the interval but it mattered not thanks to a moment of sheer magic from Thomas-Asante, who started the season playing in the fourth tier but scored one of the best goals the EFL will see all season with an incredible acrobatic bicycle effort that lobbed over helpless goalkeeper Jack Bonham.

It is the first time the Baggies have won three games in a row since August 2021 under Valerien Ismael.

Albion were terrific across the board from start to finish and rarely troubled by Stoke. Corberan's men climbed to 21st, just two points behind Stoke in 17th. Should Albion win their game in hand on much of the division it would take them to just five points from the top six, such is the remarkable turnaround and recovery under Corberan, having taken all nine points from the last nine available.

John Swift, Dara O'Shea, Conor Townsend and Jayson Molumby in particular all gave standout individual performances.

It is some return leading into the World Cup pause. Albion have momentum on their side and while that will be halted, Baggies fans will be licking their lips at the prospect of Corberan and his staff furthering the squad's development in a form of mini pre-season, where it is hoped Albion can take further strides.

Daryl Dike capped the afternoon making a return from more than three-months out injured in stopped time on an extremely satisfying afternoon at The Hawthorns.

Corberan opted to hand a start to Brandon Thomas-Asante for the first time in his fourth game in charge.

Thomas-Asante, who occupied the lone front role in a 4-2-3-1, had influenced games coming from the bench under Corberan and merited his involvement from the off.

He replaced Grady Diangana from last week's win at QPR, as Matty Phillips shifted across to the left flank.

Corberan's other change was to re-introduce Conor Townsend for Erik Pieters at left-back.

The other big Baggies team news was the sight of Dike involved in the first-team's matchday squad for the first time since the opening day at Middlesbrough in late July.

Dike spent more than three months sidelined with a thigh injury but came through 45 minutes unscathed with the under-21s on Monday evening.

Alex Neil's visitors Stoke made four alterations. Out went Harry Souttar, Morgan Fox, Tariqe Fosu and Dwight Gayle for Phil Jagielka, Jordan Thompson, Josh Tymon and Tyrese Campbell.

Gayle, the popular former Albion loan striker, has gone almost two years without a goal, his previous effort a winner against the Baggies in the Premier League in December 2020, in Slaven Bilic's penultimate match in charge.

Following a period of reflection for Remembrance Weekend, Albion came flying out the traps in front of a noticeably bigger home crowd than in recent Hawthorns fixtures.

Corberan's men could and should have led inside 30 seconds. Albion worked it across from the right and as Thomas-Asante poked it into the path of John Swift.

Swift appeared to have done everything right from a narrow left angle. His low effort beat keeper Bonham but was cleared off the line by some excellent Harry Clarke defending.

The hosts started well. They looked sharp, lively and organised. Swift spurned another decent opening with a poor effort this time as he lifted over left-footed following good work from Phillips and Townsend to the left byline.

Albion supporters sounded mobile phone app whistles on the 12th minute in the Action for Albion peaceful protest against Guochuan Lai's ownership and the club's board.

Stoke began to find their feet somewhat. Nick Powell - who shortly afterwards came off injured to be replaced by Gayle - swept a lovely diagonal ball out to right-back Clarke, whose cross-shot flew dangerously across goal.

But Albion went from in control to dominant for the remainder of a relentless first period.

The hosts were unfortunate not to lead from what would have been one of the great own goals. Stoke failed to deal with a corner and all-action right-back Clarke accidentally headed towards his own goal, it was heading in until Ben Wilmot this time cleared it off the line to deny a buoyant Smethwick End.

Thomas-Asante was unable to divert a fizzed Darnell Furlong cross on target following lovely build-up play involving Okay Yokuslu, Jed Wallace and the excellent Swift.

The Baggies were inches from an opener just after half hour as Bartley thumped a powerful header against the crossbar from Swift's fine corner delivery. Stoke were at sixes and sevens from the set-pieces and Bartley might have done better from a resulting Swift delivery. The effort flew wide of the left post and the defender was visibly annoyed with himself.

But any annoyance was transformed into jubilation moments later as, six minutes before the break, the big defender continued his redemption story by climbing at the back post to power in a header from Swift's latest corner. The Hawthorns crowd belted out their 'Kyle Bartley Ballon d'Dor' chant.

The big defender was in dominant form and he should have had a second before half-time from yet another inch-perfect Swift cross - this time his header flew wide of the left post. It looked in. Albion should have led by more at the interval.

The Potters signalled intentions by introducing defender Fox for striker Tyrese Campbell at half-time.

Liam Delap, the Manchester City loanee who opted for Staffordshire instead of the Black Country in the summer, glanced a header wide across goal.

What came five minutes into the second half was simply a moment of pure genius.

Thomas-Asante chased a ball forward that a Stoke defender managed to intercept, of sorts, by sending the ball into the sky.

Inside the penalty area, the former Salford man steadied himself, eyes glued to the ball, before - from 15 yards out - he flung himself into the air to execute an inch-perfect bicycle kick.

He flew into the air, made perfect connection to lob the ball over Bonham, who was ever so slightly out of his goal.

It was a stunning moment as fans and those in the press box looked around amazed. The brilliant sound of fans gasping echoed around the stadium when replays were shown on the big screen.

The Hawthorns was buzzing with what they had just seen. There was still 30-odd minutes of a routine win to see out but there was a feeling the job was done. Stoke were shell-shocked.

The visitors forced a series of half-chances. A couple of shots were well blocked by the Baggies backline, the largely untested Alex Palmer got down low to make a comfortable save from Delap's snapshot.

Albion were comfortable and enjoying themselves. Confidence was clearly flowing through the Albion players as every player in blue and white stripes put in an impressive performance.

Albion fans once more lit up The Hawthorns with another light protest against the ownership midway through the half. It was an unplanned protest and a powerful one.

Corberan made a flurry of changes late on. He neglected turning to Dike until the 90th minute but turned to Tom Rogic, Taylor Gardner-Hickman and Grady Diangana prior to that.

Rogic crossed for Diangana who helped a shot wide when he should have scored to make it 3-0.

It mattered not as Dike was introduced to a booming roar late on, which highlighted further promise at what might come under Corberan after the World Cup break, as in-form Albion signed off in style.

Key moments

1 - Off the line. John Swift's effort after 30 seconds is cleared off the line by Harry Clarke.

25 - Off the line again. Harry Clarke's inadvertent backwards header almost crept over but Ben Wilmot clears.

32 - Kyle Bartley smashes the crossbar with a header. Unlucky.

39 - GOAL Albion! Kyle Bartley rises from a right-sided John Swift corner to power home a header.

50 - GOAL Albion! What a goal! Brandon Thomas-Asante's bicycle kick from 15 yards floats into the corner over keeper Jack Bonham.

Teams

Albion (4-2-3-1): Palmer; Furlong, Bartley, O'Shea, Townsend; Yokuslu, Molumby (Rogic, 81); Wallace (Diangana, 81), Swift (Pieters, 65), Phillips (Gardner-Hickman, 81); Thomas-Asante (Dike, 90).

Subs not used: Button, Livermore.

Stoke (4-3-3): Bonham; Clarke, Jagielka, Wilmot, Tymon (Fosu, 70); Smallbone, Thompson, Baker (c); Powell (Gayle, 22), Campbell (Fox, 45), Delap (Brown, 70).

Subs not used: Bursik, Flint, Taylor.

Attendance: 23,728 (1,989 Stoke fans)

Referee: James Bell