Brandon Thomas-Asante earns West Brom point against Stoke
West Bromwich Albion missed the chance to close in on the top four as managerless Stoke City earned a 1-1 EFL Championship draw at the Hawthorns.
Lynden Gooch gave Stoke a surprise lead after 12 minutes before the hosts’ pressure paid and Brandon Thomas-Asante equalised in the 35th minute.
West Brom moves up to fifth on the table with the point, but relegation threatened Stoke will be the happier of the two sides.
Stoke remains without a win in eight league matches but moves three points above the drop zone.
The hosts seemed in control of the match from the start and Grady Diangana created the first chance.
The winger advanced to the by-line and crossed to the back post, finding Jeremy Sarmiento whose speculative volley flew high over the crossbar.
However, a cross from Gooch sailed over the head of goalkeeper Alex Palmer and into the back of the net, via the underside of the crossbar, to give the visitors an early lead.
Ryan Mmaee had a chance to double the lead just minutes later, but his shot deflected off Kyle Bartley and a foot wide of a post.
West Brom continued to dominate possession but was frustrated by the Potters’ resolute defence.
Then a moment of quality from Sarmineto required Jack Bonham to make an excellent fingertip save and it spurred the Baggies back into life.
Alex Mowatt’s corner was headed over by Cedric Kipre, albeit under the close attention of a defender and goalkeeper.
Thomas-Asante found West Brom’s equaliser after 35 minutes, striking a fine volley into the bottom corner of the net after Darnell Furlong did well to keep the ball in play.
Furlong pulled it back to Okay Yokuslu whose shot was blocked on the line, but the ball fell kindly to Thomas-Asante to level the scores.
Stoke continued to set up to frustrate after the break and the hosts were struggling to create any chances of note.
However, Jed Wallace’s curling goalbound effort was diverted off target by the head of Michael Rose.
Rose also made a superb last-ditch tackle to deny Tom Fellows when the substitute was bearing down on goal and ready to shoot.
Josh Laurent came close twice to restoring Stoke’s lead, firstly when his shot deflected off Kipre and narrowly wide before shooting a good chance over the crossbar.
Thomas-Asante had the chance to win it for the Baggies late on, but Bonham reacted well to his ingenious back-heeled effort.
The goalkeeper then pushed over Pipa’s close-range shot to preserve a point for Stoke.
