WBA 0 Stoke C 1:BEFORE THE 89th minute Ben Foster had had little to remember this game by; a wayward Jermaine Pennant header just before half-time and a Glenn Whelan toe-poke that drifted a yard or so wide a bit later were about all the visitors had produced. The West Bromwich goalkeeper will struggle to forget Ryan Shotton's first league goal for Stoke City, though. The substitute chased a dropping Jon Walters pass for longer than Gabriel Tamas and hooked the ball around a hesitant Foster before prodding it into the empty net.

The goalkeeper initially protested the ball had been kicked out of his hands and his manager, Roy Hodgson, complained that the referee ought to have given a free-kick for a high boot. The replays suggested Shotton had poached the ball cleanly, however, and Hodgson conceded that Foster “could have been brave and taken the stud in the chest, but unfortunately he decided to turn away”.

Chris Brunt had a chance to give Albion the lead as early as the fifth minute, leaping unmarked to meet Tchoyi’s centre, but he headed disappointingly wide. When Paul Scharner directed his header on target a couple of minutes later, Begovic made an easy catch.

Shane Long’s header caused more problems in the 12th minute. Long, who had scored in both of his previous appearances, dived to meet a Somen Tchoyi cross from the left, making perfect contact, but Begovic spread himself for a point-blank block. Robert Huth’s careless chested ball gave Long another opening shortly before half-time, but he could not quite find the time and space to score.