If there were any concerns about Ryan Mason’s ability to mix it in the cut and thrust of the Championship in his maiden managerial role, then this battling West Brom victory, which punctured the mood at early pacesetters Stoke, ought to silence them.
Mason had seen two vital members of his side depart in the days before the trip to the Potteries and had to watch from the stands as he served a touchline suspension. That did not prevent his team torpedoing Stoke’s 100% start to the campaign with a win which was as hard-fought as it was deserved, as Nat Phillips’ 14th-minute goal from a set piece proved the difference.
West Brom are no longer in receipt of parachute payments so the exits of Tom Fellows and Darnell Furlong to recently relegated duo Southampton and Ipswich respectively are understandable. Yet there was no sense that any belief had drifted away with the two departees, as Mason stressed afterwards.
“The personality and quality everyone showed was super-pleasing for me,” he said. “We’ve lost a few players this week. We lost Darnell who was wearing the captain’s armband. And with Tom, anyone that comes through the academy and makes a mark on the first team is pretty special. So we showed an incredible amount of personality on the back of losing two key players.
“Maybe there are a few gaps in the squad that we can address in the next 48 hours. But I thought the performance was amazing. The work rate of the team, to nullify them to just a couple of chances, was excellent today. You need to suffer away from home and we’ve done that.”
Mason was keen to indicate his team had varied their passing style, finding joy throughout via crosses, with Mikey Johnston especially troubling the hosts’ defence with deep diagonals from the left. After another fizzing cross from the former Celtic winger was squirrelled away for a corner, Johansson flapped at Alex Mowatt’s set piece and Phillips steered in the loose ball.
In Johnston, it seemed Mason’s men had the game’s kingpin, his scurrying runs inside from the left regularly forcing Junior Tchamadeu to backpedal, and he almost teed up Aune Heggebø on the half hour mark as West Brom asserted their dominance. Stoke’s main threat came on the counter, their best first-half chance falling to Million Manhoef whose near-post header was parried by Josh Griffiths after Sorba Thomas’s whipped delivery.
West Brom’s superiority from set pieces remained a concern for Stoke in the second half. Jed Wallace ought to have made it 2-0 on 69 minutes after another flick-on from a Mowatt corner but kicked thin air.
The introduction of Toby Collyer, the Manchester United loanee, gave West Brom extra legs and presence in midfield and they were content to rely on counterattacks as the game wore on, while thwarting the hosts’ attempts to equalise. While the visitors rarely threatened a second goal, they held out to preserve their unbeaten start under the former Tottenham assistant.
Mark Robins, the Stoke manager who had implored his charges to “park” the alarming 3-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Bradford in midweek, said: “West Brom worked their socks off, so they deserve a lot of credit. You can’t take too many touches, you’ve got to remain disciplined. And during today’s game our players begin to tire.
“But we’re so much more competitive now and we’ve made strides. We can all dream about things like promotion but we haven’t got time, we’ve got to improve.”
