English Premiership
Stoke deny WBA third spot
2012-12-01 20:50
London - A late goal from substitute Dean Whitehead gave Stoke City their first away win of the season at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday to deny the hosts third place in the English Premier League.
Whitehead picked up a cross from fellow substitute Michael Kightly, as Stoke became just the second team to win at The Hawthorns this season after champions Manchester City.
Tony Pulis's side have taken 13 points from the last five games, while for the fifth-placed West Brom it was a second setback in a few days after Wednesday night's 3-1 loss at Swansea.
A draw would have been enough for West Brom to go third after Rafael Benitez's Chelsea were beaten 3-1 by West Ham United earlier.
Hammers manager Steve Clarke made six changes to his side after their midweek loss, giving a debut to Sweden striker Markus Rosenberg, but the strategy backfired as the side failed to gel.
Kenwyne Jones, in as Peter Crouch recovers from dental surgery, made his first Premier League start of the season and came close early but his header went just wide.
West Brom's Steven Reid had another chance after 34 minutes but his long range effort was tipped over by Stoke's Bosnian goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.
Stoke finally broke the deadlock after 75 minutes following an error from Sweden's Jonas Olsson.
The defender tried to keep the ball in play when challenging Jones but succeeded in finding Kightly, who raced into the Albion area with his low cross turning in by Whitehead.
Begovic kept out a late Graham Dorran effort as Stoke held on for the three points, to keep their record of having not lost at West Brom for the past nine years.