(UTV | COLOMBO) – Nick Powell scored the only goal of the game as Stoke City beat previously unbeaten Championship leaders West Bromwich Albion.
It looked like being one of those nights in the Potteries when Michael O’Neill’s men outplayed the visitors but could not find a way through.
Jacob Brown hit the post in the first half, then Mario Vrancic hit the bar in the second, before Sam Johnstone twice made great saves in quick succession from Sam Surridge, the second of them from the penalty spot after the Albion keeper had brought down the striker.
But on 79 minutes the Potters finally created one piece of real magic for their deserved winner on a night when Albion boss Val Ismael admitted that Stoke were the best side they have faced so far this season.
Tommy Smith latched on to a mis-hit pass from Conor Townsend to float a chipped ball through the inside-right channel – and Powell ran on to lift a perfectly weighted lob over the marooned Johnstone.
Stoke climb to third on the back of their best performance of the season in front of their biggest crowd of the season, 22,703, although that was swelled by the noisy 2,886 travelling Albion fans who made such an occasion of it.
The Potters eventually won it largely thanks to another superb performance from Powell, who, at 27, now looks to be a real class act compared to the teenage Crewe Alexandra hopeful who Manchester United risked £3m on more than nine years ago.
It was Powell who created Stoke’s first great chance when he put Brown clean through, only to see his team-mate outfox keeper Johnstone but also find the base of the post. Seconds later, fit-again Joe Allen fizzed a right-foot follow-up just wide.