Dwight Gayle goal sees Baggies go fourth in Championship as Potters lose three in a row

Dwight Gayle’s header noticed West Brom declare an essential 1-Zero victory at Stoke to maneuver the Baggies as much as fourth place and in actual competition of promotion.

The striker opened the scoring on 25 minutes on the guess365 Stadium when he obtained on the tip of Ahmed Hegazi’s cross following a well-crafted set piece.

Each side had early probabilities, with Peter Etebo skewing an effort off track for Stoke, whereas Jacob Murphy narrowly lifted a drive over the crossbar.

Albion took the lead within the 25th minute. Stefan Johansen’s free-kick from a central place discovered an unmarked Hegazi on the left aspect of the field. He volleyed a move throughout purpose for Gayle to ship a close-range header previous Potters goalkeeper Jack Butland.

Kieran Gibbs tried his luck from distance for the buoyant Baggies however bent his low left-footed strike extensive of Butland’s right-hand publish.

Trying to find a route again into the sport after the break, the hosts’ frustrations grew when former West Brom winger James McClean noticed an try charged down earlier than Joe Allen fizzed a low cross into the field from the precise that simply evaded his Wales worldwide team-mate Sam Vokes.

Nathan Jones’ men pushed for an equaliser as the clock ticked down and Tom Ince should have done better with his finish after running with the ball from his own half, beating three Albion defenders but dragging a shot away from goal when well-positioned.

At the other end, West Brom broke on the counter-attack with the ball finding midfielder Johansen on the left of the box and he sent a shot across goal with his left foot, but his low attempt was pushed away by Butland.

Striker Jay Rodriguez was next to go close for West Brom, with his daisy-cutter from outside of the box failing to test Butland.

Midfielder Ince wasted a free-kick from a threatening position with seven minutes left to play, lifting the set-piece over Sam Johnstone’s crossbar.

Striker Vokes, a January recruit from Burnley, then glanced wide from Tom Edwards’ deep cross from the right flank.

Pushing for a late leveller to salvage a point, Stoke threw everything at Albion but goalkeeper Johnstone and his back-line remained resilient in the closing stages.