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West Bromwich Albion 0-3 Stoke City
Match Reports, 17:38, November 20, 2010 , | No Comments
Jon Walters came off the bench to score twice and help Stoke to a 3-0 victory at the Hawthorns.
Stoke City recorded their third successive Premier League victory at the Hawthorns on Saturday afternoon against a West Brom side in dire need of some inspiration.
Matthew Etherington opened the scoring from the penalty spot on 55 minutes after Kenwyne Jones was brought down by Scott Carson and substitute Jon Walters came off the bench to score two late goals and seal the points for the visitors.
It's now becoming a difficult time for Roberto Di Matteo who has seen his side fall from the early position of fourth which they occupied as recently as October, to the bottom half of the table after a run of four defeats in five outings.
In contrast, Tony Pulis' men are shooting up the table off the back of wins at home to Birmingham and Liverpool before grabbing all three points this afternoon.
In truth, the first 55 minutes saw a dull contest, with neither side able to create any worthwhile goalscoring chances and very little in the way of excitement.
However, the game sprang into life when Stoke broke forward on the counter attack. Ricardo Fuller's knock down found Kenwyne Jones and as he knocked the ball past Carson the West Brom keeper brought the Stoke striker down and referee Chris Foy had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.
Up stepped Etherington who calmly planted the ball into the bottom right hand corner and suddenly Stoke were a different side who looked full of confidence.
As the game wore on and with the Baggies showing few signs of getting back on terms, Di Matteo brought on Somen Tchoyi for Giles Barnes and he did at least give the visitors something to think about.
However, with just four minutes left Stoke earned another penalty and the game was put to bed. Substitute Simon Cox brought down Dean Whitehead with a clumsy challenge and Walters who had only been on the field a few minutes tucked the ball into the corner to double the advantage.
West Brom did push forward in search of an equaliser and Ibanez had a chance to reduce the arrears only for his header to go over the bar.
With the game well into injury time there was still enough time remaining for the afternoon to get worse for the home side when Jones did well to tee up Walters. His first effort was well saved by Carson but he followed up to score his second of the game and Stoke's third to make the scoreline very flattering for Pulis' men.
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