SOCCER PREMIER LEAGUE: Stoke 1 West Brom 1:ROY HODGSON knows a thing or two about acts of escapology, from his time in charge of Fulham, and he could be forgiven for wondering if this crucial point will turn out to be a key moment in another rescue operation.
Trailing to Rory Delap’s early second-half goal, West Bromwich Albion looked to be heading for a defeat that would have left them second from bottom until Carlos Vela, for the second week running, came off the bench to score a dramatic late goal.
Stoke, who have lost only once to Albion in 27 league games, will curse the assistant referee’s failure to raise his flag when Vela pounced.
The Mexican, on loan from Arsenal, appeared to have strayed offside when Stephen Reid swung the ball in from the right, inviting Vela to score.
Hodgson’s jubilation was understandable, the Albion manager performing an un-coordinated jog on the touchline to celebrate the goal that lifted Albion out of the relegation zone.
Rather predictably, Stoke’s threat in the early exchanges was confined to Delap’s long throws, which the Albion defence handled surprisingly well, while at the other end the visitors struggled to impose their passing game.
But Albion were toothless.
Stoke were not any better. It was painful to watch at times and two moments at the start of the second half encapsulated everything that had gone before. First, Delap lined up for a long throw and chucked the ball straight out of play. Then, from the goal-kick that followed, Scott Carson shanked the ball out on the other side of the pitch.
It was that sort of night, although the breakthrough that the game so badly needed did arrive, in the 53rd minute.
That the goal came from a set-piece was no surprise. Jermaine Pennant, Stoke’s most penetrative player, swept his corner kick into the six-yard box and Delap, who had taken up a position between Carson and Graham Dorrans, got to the ball first to head in his second goal of the season.
It was the cue for Albion to play with renewed purpose and they came close to an equaliser in the 60th minute when Dorrans’ header from Stephen Reid’s cross deflected off Ryan Shawcross and forced Asmir Begovic into a scrambled save.
Marc-Antoine Fortune later headed another Reid centre on to the top of the crossbar in what was Albion’s best spell of the game before Vela announced his arrival in dramatic fashion.
Albion might even have nicked it through Dorrans at the end.
GuardianService
STOKE: Begovic, Wilson, Huth, Shawcross, Pugh, Pennant (Whelan 78), Whitehead, Delap, Walters, Jones (Fuller 83), Carew (Etherington 65). Subs not used: Sorensen, Higginbotham, Collins, Wilkinson. Booked: Shawcross, Huth.
WEST BROM: Carson, Reid, Meite, Olsson, Shorey, Brunt, Scharner, Dorrans, Mulumbu (Tchoyi 73), Thomas (Vela 82), Fortune (Odemwingie 73). Subs not used: Myhill, Morrison, Tamas, Jara. Booked: Mulumbu, Brunt.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland).
