Match Reports

Match Report : 02/01/2016

Evans' maiden goal snatches last-gasp victory

  • Evans scores injury-time winner (90+3)
  • Sessegnon opener (60) cancelled out by sub Walters (81)
  • Cameron sent off for the Potters (83)
  • Albion Man of the Match: Stephane Sessegnon
  • Attendance: 23,218
JONNY Evans snatched a dramatic winner in added time at The Hawthorns to put Albion in fine fettle at the start of 2016.

A dramatic and absorbing Barclays Premier League contest saw Tony Pulis’s team grab the scalp of in-form Stoke who finished with 10 men after the late sending off of Geoff Cameron.

The match gripped fans of both camps from an outset which saw Evans so nearly convert a Gareth McAuley header from close range while Boaz Myhill beat away a Glenn Johnson drive as the team’s swapped chances.

Albion finished the half in control and working a good chance to skipper Darren Fletcher which he clipped over.

But Fletcher was at the heart of the 60th-minute move which brought the lead, working superbly in midfield to find James Morrison who played in Stephane Sessegnon. His powerful rising finish from 15 yards gave Jack Butland no chance.

Just as Albion were in sight of the finishing line, Stoke snatched an equaliser created by their two substitutes as Joselu’s cross was headed home by Jonathan Walters.

But when Cameron was sent off for a tangle with Claudio Yacob seven minutes from time, Albion seized the chance to push for a winner.

And in the third of five minutes of added time, substitute Callum McManaman produced the cross which eventually fell for Evans to prod home.

It was the Baggies' first league double over Stoke for nearly 40 years and sent them safely into the table’s middle reaches with the FA Cup campaign ready for launch in a week’s time.

Albion: Myhill; Dawson, McAuley, Evans, Brunt; Sessegnon, Yacob (Berahino 85), Fletcher, Gardner (McManaman 90); Morrison; Lambert. 

Subs: Lindegaard; Chester, Pocognoli, Gamboa, Roberts.

Bookings: Brunt (90, dissent)

Stoke City: Butland; Johnson, Shawcross, Wollscheid, Pieters; Shaqiri (Adam 85), Cameron, Whelan (Walters 68), Afellay, Arnautovic, Bojan (Joselu 64).

Subs: Haugaard, Wilson, van Ginkel, Crouch.

Bookings: Arnautovic (75, dissent);

Sent-off: Cameron (84 violent conduct); 

Referee: Lee Mason (Bolton)