Match Reports

Albion 4-1 Blackburn

An image of Brandon Thomas-Asante celebrating with his teammates

Albion recorded a comprehensive 4-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers at The Hawthorns on Saturday.

Tom Fellows opened the scoring early, before Brandon Thomas-Asante and an own-goal gave the Baggies a three-goal lead before half-time.

Jake Garrett pulled one back around the hour mark, but Thomas-Asante soon secured his brace, the hosts’ fourth and an important three Sky Bet Championship points to round-off a positive afternoon.

Carlos Corberán’s men are in action again next weekend, when they visit Norwich.

An image of Tom Fellows celebrating with his teammates

The boss made eight alterations to last weekend’s much-changed Emirates FA Cup team - with only Kyle Bartley, Alex Mowatt and Fellows remaining.

His side made the perfect start, Fellows nodding home from close-range for his second in as many games after Darnell Furlong’s long throw evaded everybody.

On the 30-minute mark, Thomas-Asante then doubled the advantage via a superb low strike.

And he played a big part in Albion’s third - helping Dominic Hyam bundle the ball in following Leopold Wahlstedt’s initial stop to deny Alex Mowatt.

An image of Albion's players celebrating a goal against Blackburn

The visitors did get a goal back through Garrett’s finish - and they also forced Alex Palmer into a few notable saves during a much better spell at the beginning of the second period.

Yet the Baggies always looked like adding a fourth, which came thanks to the impressive Thomas-Asante’s powerful effort in the 64th minute.

An image of Brandon Thomas Asante and Darnell Furlong celebrating

Corberán was able to give Jed Wallace & Daryl Dike time on the pitch as they continued injury comebacks - and Cedric Kipre also saw a header disallowed.

But it didn’t matter as Albion saw the game out comfortably in the end, securing another eye-catching win and ensuring they stay fifth in the league table.

Albion: Palmer; Furlong, Bartley, Kipre Taylor 78), Townsend; Yokuslu (Wallace 78), Mowatt; Fellows, Swift (Chalobah 59), Reach (Pipa 59); Thomas-Asante (Dike 78).

Substitutes: Griffiths, Pieters, Heard, Malcolm.

Attendance: 24,409 (1,258).